Background: No comprehensive reports exist on the combined effects of season, cultivation environment and genotype on eggplant (Solanum melongena) composition. We studied proximate composition, carbohydrates, total phenolics and vitamin C of eggplant fruits of three Spanish landraces, three commercial hybrids and three hybrids between landraces cultivated across two environmental conditions (open field, OF; and, greenhouse, GH) for up to four seasons.
Results: Season (S) had a larger effect than the genotype (G) for composition traits, except for total phenolics. G × S interaction was generally of low relative magnitude. Orthogonal decomposition of the season effect showed that differences within OF or GH environments were in many instances greater than those between OF and GH. Spanish landraces presented, on average, lower contents of total carbohydrates and starch and higher contents of total vitamin C, ascorbic acid, and total phenolics than commercial hybrids. Hybrids among landraces presented variable levels of heterosis for composition traits. Genotypes grown in the same season cluster together on the graph of multivariate principal components analysis.
Conclusion: The cultivation environment has a major role in determining the composition of eggplant fruits. Environmental and genotypic differences can be exploited to obtain high quality eggplant fruits.