Evaluation of advance breeding lines of chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) for fruit yield and related attributes under sub-humid temperate environment

Abstract

The present investigation was undertaken to assess the performance of 58 advance breeding lines (F5) derived from ten different intervarietal crosses of chilli to identify the most promising genotypes. These 58 progenies were evaluated along with six varieties including ‘Surajmukhi’ as standard check in randomized complete block design with three replications during summer, 2015. Sufficient genetic variability was observed for fruit yield, yield contributing and quality traits. On the basis of mean performance, ‘DPCh- 17 (431 g)’ followed by ‘DPCh-39 (377 g)’, ‘DPCh-35’ (359 g), ‘DPCh-49 (357 g)’ and ‘DPCh-45 (336 g)’ were the top ranking five genotypes for marketable green fruit yield per plant which significantly outperformed standard check ‘Surajmukhi (219 g)’ with an increase of 44-100 %. The superior performance of these genotypes was the result of their better performance for average fruit weight, number of
marketable fruits per plant along with early flowering, early harvest, fruit length, fruit girth, leaf length and leaf width. The genotypes namely ‘DPCh-17 (75.99 ASTA units)’, ‘DPCh-39 (74.35 ASTA units)’ and ‘DPCh-35 (73.80 ASTA units)’ revealed high oleoresin content. ‘DPCh-49’ with 4th rank for marketable yield per plant had low capsaicin content (0.45 %) and may be preferred one for those like less pungent chilli. Genotypes ‘DPCh-17’, ‘DPCh-39’, ‘DPCh-35’, ‘DPCh- 49’ and ‘DPCh-45’appeared to be promising on the basis of higher fruit yield along with desirable performance for yield attributing and quality traits and may be released as new varieties after thorough evaluation or can be utilized in future breeding program.