The effect of plant density and fruit limitation on the quantity and quality of eggplant seeds

Abstract

The present work aims to evaluate the influence of different planting schemes and the limiting of the number of fruits on the quantity and quality of eggplant seeds. The cultivar Luiza used in this experiment was planted at densities of 30.000, 35.000 and 40.000 plants per hectare. In these, the number of fruits was limited to three, four or five fruits per plant. The use of lower densities leads to a higher percentage of germinated seeds. However, the use of higher densities can lead to higher seed quantities. The results indicate that limiting the number of fruits has a positive effect on the mass of seeds in one fruit and the mass of 1000 seeds, regardless of plant density. The seed production per hectare was less influenced by the limitation of the number of fruits, by the compensation due to the densities used in the experimental variants. Seed vigor index was influenced by density rather than fruit number.