MSc.

Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is an important spice cum vegetable crop, grown on a commercial scale in India. It is an important constituent of many foods since it adds flavor, colour, vitamin C and pungency, productivity of the crop remains low mostly due to destructive diseases. One of the most dreaded diseases affecting chilli is anthracnose, which is also called dieback and fruit rot.
The best way to tackle this disease is to grow resistant varieties. Hence it is essential to identify the sources of anthracnose resistance and study the inheritance of resistance to develop high yielding anthracnose resistant varieties of chilli. The aim of the project was to identify high yielding anthracnose resistant types through evaluation from among the F4 segregating generation of three way cross hybrids in chilli. Eight promising three-way cross hybrids with regard to fruit yield and resistance to anthracnose selected from a previous PG project was used as the material for this study.
The eight three way cross hybrids were considered as families and within each family eight progenies were studied. The eight families are given below
Family 1 - (Jwalamukhi x Kidangoor local) x Jwalasakhi
Family 2 - (Jwalamukhi x Ujwala) x Vellayani Athulya
Family 3 - (Jwalasakhi x Vellayani Athulya) x Kidangoor local
Family 4 - (Jwalamukhi x Ujwala) x Kidangoor local
Family 5 - (Samkranthi local x Vellayani Athulya) x Kidangoor local
Family 6 - (Vellayani Athulya x Jwalasakhi) x Samkranthi local
Family 7 - (Vellayani Athulya x Ujwala) x Jwalamukhi
Family 8 - (Kidangoor local x Ujwala) x Jwalasakhi

The investigation was carried out as two separate experiments- Pot culture experiment and Field experiment. Pot culture experiment was laid out in CRD with 8 families and 8 progenies with three replications to score for anthracnose disease by creating disease pressure by artificial inoculation of the plants with the pathogen at 35 DAT and 50 DAT. Six superior progenies from each family with regard to yield and anthracnose resistance were selected for field experiment after eliminating two progenies which exhibited low yield and high anthracnose disease incidence. Viz., progeny 4 and 8, 1 and 4, 4 and 7, 4 and 5, 2 and 5, 2 and 8, 3 and 5, 4 and 6 from families 1, 2, 3,4,5,6,7 and 8 respectively. Family 8 was superior for yield and showed resistance to anthracnose followed by three other families. Progenies which were superior within these families were 8 and 3 in family 8, 6 and 1 in family 5, 8 in family 7 and progeny 3 in family 2.
Genetic parameters such as phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV), genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), heritability and genetic advance and correlation of 8 families were studied. Fruit yield per plant showed maximum GCV, PCV and genetic advance while heritability percentage was maximum for fruit length and average green fruit weight. Fruit yield per plant showed positive and significant genotypic and phenotypic correlations with average green fruit weight and length of fruit while it showed negative correlation with duration among the families.
The field experiment was laid out in Compact Family Block Design, with 8 families and 6 progenies in four replications. Scoring for anthracnose disease was done under natural condition in the field. Among the 8 families, family 8 was highly superior for the important traits such as number of fruits per plant, average green fruit weight, fruit length, fruit girth, fruit yield per plant and was resistant to anthracnose disease.
Based on the evaluation of progenies in each family, progeny 1 was significantly superior in family 1, progeny 2 in family 2, progeny 3 in family 3, progeny 4 in family 4, progenies 3 and 4 in family 5, progeny 1 in family 6, progenies 4 and 6 in family 7 and progeny 6 in family 8.
Biochemical analysis on chilli revealed that capsaicin and oleoresin were found to be maximum in the above selected progenies in each family which were superior for yield and anthracnose resistance. Progenies which exhibited high capsaicin content were found to exhibit low disease incidence.
The study revealed that Kidangoor local x Ujwala x Jwalasakhi (family 8) was the best and was significantly superior followed by Samkranthi local x Vellayani Athulya x Kidangoor local (family 5), Jwalasakhi x Vellayani Athulya x Kidangoor local (family 3), Vellayani Athulya x Jwalasakhi x Samkranthi local (family 6), Vellayani Athulya x Ujwala x Jwalamukhi (family 7) and Jwalamukhi x Ujwala x Vellayani Athulya (family 2). The progenies that were found to be superior within these families will be selected based on yield and yield attributes as well as anthracnose disease resistance for further evaluation of the recombinants in the F5 segregating generation.