Heterosis studies in bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L. var. grossum Sendt) under modified naturally ventilated polyhouse in mid hills of Himalayas

Abstract

The present investigation was envisaged to gather
information on heterosis for earliness, yield and its
contributing traits of bell pepper. The experiment was
conducted at the Experimental farm of the Department of
Vegetable Science and Floriculture, CSKHPKV, Palampur,
Himachal Pradesh under modified naturally ventilated
polyhouse. A wide range of heterosis over mid-parent, better
parent and standard check was observed in F1 generation
for marketable fruit yield and its attributing traits. The cross
combinations viz., DARL-10 (L9) × California Wonder (T2),
LC (L10) × Solan Bharpur (T1), Kashmir Sel-1 (L2) × Solan
Bharpur (T1), Kashmir Sel-1 (L2) × Yolo Wonder (T3) and
Kandaghat Sel-9 (L7) × Solan Bharpur (T1) exhibited the
highest significant desirable heterosis over standard check
(Indra) for early maturity. The F1 crosses viz., Kashmir Sel-1
(L2) × Solan Bharpur (T1), ARCH-19 (L1) × Solan Bharpur
(T1), DARL-10 (L9) × California Wonder (T2) and UHFSP(Y)-
11 (L11) × Yolo Wonder (T3) were the top heterotic cross
combinations over standard check for marketable fruit yield
per plant and number of marketable fruits per plant. These
cross combinations could be exploited in future breeding
programme for development of early and high yielding
hybrids suitable for cultivation under protected structure in
mid hills of Himalayas.