ABSTRACT
Solanum melongena L. (2n=24), also known as eggplant, aubergine, or brinjal, is an important solanaceous vegetable crop mainly cultivated in the tropical Asian and Mediterranean countries.
Eggplant was cultivated for over 1500 years in Asia before being introduced in Europe by the Arabs (1), and the common name probably derived from the white egglike fruits. At present, the vegetable crop is cultivated on 1,130,000 hectares worldwide with an annual production of 17 million metric tons (2), an increase of 2.5 million metric tons in the last 4 years has been estimated (Table 1).
