Correlations between genetic distances among parents and hybrid trait values, heterosis (<i>Het</i>), and specific combining ability (SCA).

<p>Results are presented considering the 10 eggplant parents (nine cultivated <i>S</i>. <i>melongena</i> and one weedy <i>S</i>. <i>insanum</i>; n = 45 hybrids), and only the nine <i>S</i>. <i>melongena</i> parents (n = 36 hybrids).</p

Mean squares, GCA/SCA ratio [26], and narrow sense (<i>h</i>^<i>2</i>) and broad sense heritabilities (<i>H</i>^<i>2</i>) for the ANOVA for conventional morphological and Tomato Analyzer fruitdescriptors.

<p>Materials evaluated include 10 parents and 45 hybrids of eggplant. Griffing’s (1956) Method 2 Model 1 (fixed effects) of diallel analysis was used.</p

Fruits of the 10 eggplant parentals used in the diallel analysis.

<p>Materials include nine cultivated <i>S</i>. <i>melongena</i> (A0416, ANS26, ASIS1, DH621, H15, IVIA371, MEL1, MEL5, and MM1597) and one weedy <i>S</i>. <i>insanum</i> (INS2) accessions. Fruits are not depicted at the same scale; the size of the grid cells is 1 cm × 1 cm.</p

Average values and ranges of variation.

<p>Traits evaluated include conventional morphological and Tomato Analyzer descriptors in eggplant parents and their hybrids. Probability of the <i>t</i>-test for comparison between parent and hybrid means is also included.</p

Range of specific combining ability (SCA) estimates.

<p>Values are expressed as percentage over the mean of the 45 hybrids obtained among 10 eggplant parents.</p

General combining ability estimates of parents for conventional morphological and Tomato Analyzer fruit descriptors for the 10 eggplant parents evaluated.

<p>General combining ability estimates of parents for conventional morphological and Tomato Analyzer fruit descriptors for the 10 eggplant parents evaluated.</p

UPGMA dendrogram displaying relationships of nine <i>S</i>. <i>melongena</i> (A0416, ANS26, ASIS1, DH621, H15, IVIA371, MEL1, MEL5, and MM1597) and one <i>S</i>. <i>insanum</i> (INS2) accessions based on 7,335 polymorphic SNPs.

<p>Phenetic relationships among accessions were derived from Hamming distance (bitwise distance). Bootstrap values (based on 1000 replications; expressed in percentage) are indicated at the corresponding nodes.</p

Plant materials used for the study of morphological and molecular (SSR) variation of a collection of eggplants from China, Spain, and Sri Lanka.

<p>Plant materials used for the study of morphological and molecular (SSR) variation of a collection of eggplants from China, Spain, and Sri Lanka.</p

PCA SSR-based relationships between accessions.

<p>A total of 52 <i>S. melongena</i> accessions from China (white squares), Spain (grey triangles), and Sri Lanka (black circles) (see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0041748#pone-0041748-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>) were evaluated using 12 polymorphic SSRs (see text and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0041748#pone-0041748-t003" target="_blank">Tables 3</a> and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0041748#pone-0041748-t005" target="_blank">5</a>) and were represented on the three first components (PC1, PC2 and PC3) of the principal components analysis (22.0%, 19.1%, and 17.9% of the total variation explained by the first, second, and third principal components, respectively). Scatterplots show the projections of the accessions on the first and second principal components (above) and on the first and third principal components (below).</p

Morphological traits measured in a scale with pre-determined values of the descriptor states, and description of the scale used for the study of morphological variation in the eggplant accessions studied [4], [19], [30].

<p>Morphological traits measured in a scale with pre-determined values of the descriptor states, and description of the scale used for the study of morphological variation in the eggplant accessions studied <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0041748#pone.0041748-MuozFalcn1" target="_blank">[4]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0041748#pone.0041748-Prohens1" target="_blank">[19]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0041748#pone.0041748-vanderWeerden1" target="_blank">[30]</a>.</p