Eggplant Eggplant Eggplant (US), aubergine (UK), or brinjal (South Asia and South Africa ) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae, "Solanum melongena", grown for its often purple edible fruit. The spongy, absorbent fruit of the plant is widely used in cooking in many different cuisines, and is often considered a vegetable, even though it is a berry by botanical definition. As a member of the genus "Solanum", it is related to the tomato and the potato. Like the tomato, its skin and seeds can be eaten, but, like the potato, it is not advisable to eat it raw.
Vegetable oils as alternative energy bio-diesel is that it can tolerate low rainfall (as little as 250 ml per year), far below what most food-crops require, thus reducing yet more their potential to compete. Some species of algae contain as much as 50% vegetable oil. Algae have very high growth rates compared to plants normally used to produce vegetable oil. Potentially algae could produce much more oil per area of land than current farming methods. So producing vegetable oil this way should result in less deforestation and less competition for food production land. One expert wrote: "As demonstrated here, microalgal biodiesel is technically feasible. It