PhD

Chillies are the green and dried ripe fruits of Capsicum annuum L
or Capsicum [rutscens . It forms an indispensable adjunct in everv house
in tropical world. It is specially liked for its pungency and spicy taste.
besides the appealing colour it adds to the food One of the important
biotic stresses in this crop is the leaf curl disease virus caused by the
chilli leaf curl virus, which causes considerable loss in yield. It is
transmitted by the vector Bemisia tabaci and can be controlled by
chemicals but harmful to health and environment. Due to this cultivation
of chillies has become uneconomical particularly during summer season.
There is an immediate need to develop leaf curl resistant varieties for
summer cultivation. Hence the present investigation was undertaken on
"Genetic analysis of yield and leaf curl virus resistance in Chilli
(Capsicum annuum L." at the Department of Plant Breeding and
Genetics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2001-2003 with the
objective of estimating the combining ability, heterosis and gene action
involved in the inheritance of yield and leaf curl virus resistance.
Five susceptible high yielding lines Jwalarnukhi, Kottikulam
I . .
Local, Mangalapuram Local, Koothali Local and Pollakkada Local were
crossed with three resistant testers Haripuram Local, Alampady Local
and Neyyattinkara Local in L x T pattern and IS F IS thus produced were
evaluated along with the parents in randomized block design. Analysis of
variance revealed highly significant genotypic difference for all the
characters studied.
The observations recorded were days to first flowering, days to 50
per cent flowering, number of primary branches, number of secondary
branches, number of fruits per plant, average green fruit weight, fruit
yield per plant. fruit length. fruit girth, number of seeds per fruit,
hundred seed weight, plant height. duration of -the crop, harvest index.


capsaicin content, oleoresin content and vulnerability index calculated on
the basis of virus disease scoring. Variability studies indicated high
GCV and PCV for the characters fruit yield, capsaicin content and
vulnerability index.
High heritability coupled with high genetic advance were
exhibited for all the characters excluding days to first flowering, days to
50 per cent flowering and duration of the crop. Fruit yield per plant
showed significant positi ve genotypic correlation with primary and
se_condary branches, number of fruits per plant, green fruit weight, fruit
length, fruit girth, number of seeds per fruit, plant height, harvest index,
duration of the crop and capsaicin content. It had significant negative
correlation with vulnerability index.
Combining ability analysis showed that the line Pollakkada Local
and the tester Neyyattinkara Local were good general combiners for fruit
yield along with leaf curl resistance. Significant desirable sea effect for
fruit yield and vulnerability index was exhibited by three hybrids viz.,
Jwalarnukhi x Haripuram Local, lwalamukhi x Neyyattinkara Local and
Pollakkada Local x Alampady Local.
The hybrids Jwalamukhi x Neyyattinkara Local, Pollakkada Local
x Alampady Local and PoHakkada Local x Neyyattinkara Local exhibited
significant desirable standard heterosis for yield and vulnerability index.
Considering per se 'Performance, standard heterosis and sea effect
two hybrids Pollakkada Local x Alampady Local and Pollakkada Local x
Neyyattinkara Local were chosen as the good hybrids.
Generation mean analysis was carried out using six-parameter
model. Six generations viz. PI, P2, F I, F2, BI, B2 were built up among the
crosses Pollakkada Local x Alarnpady Local and Pollakkada Local x
Neyy attinkara Local. Presence of additive, dominance and epistatic
interaction for all the characters indicated that recurrent selection or
recombination-breeding programme can be fo llowed for future breeding