University of Rhode Island DigitalCommons@URI Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station College of the Environment and Life Sciences Bulletin 2014 No 1 2013 Eggplant Variety Trial Rebecca Brown
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[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/riaes_bulletin Part of the Agricultural Science Commons, Agriculture Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Entomology Commons, Horticulture Commons, and the Plant Pathology Commons Recommended Citation Brown, Rebecca, "No 1 2013 Eggplant Variety Trial" (2014). Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin. Paper 9. http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/riaes_bulletin/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of the Environment and Life Sciences at DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. 2013 Eggplant Variety Trial The number of eggplant varieties available to market growers has increased dramatically in recent years. While standard black Italian-style eggplants still dominate the wholesale market, the direct retail market now includes a wide range of shapes and sizes, and all shades of purple as well as black and white. A survey of the seed catalogs targeting commercial growers in New England shows 65 distinct eggplant varieties available for 2014. In 2013 we trialed 9 varieties at the Gardiner Crops Research farm at URI. Eggplant is native to tropical Asia and eastern Africa, and is a traditional crop in hot-summer areas from southern Europe through the Middle East to India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia.