Abstract:
Investigations on the inheritance of quantitative and qualitative characters
and hetrosis among five species of Capsicum were carried out in the
present study. Though crosses were made in all combinations, there was fruit setting in only ten crosses. Of these 2 crosses produced no viable seeds and
in another cross, the seedlings did not survive. C anmtum as female parent
failed to cross with any other species In the cross CF x CP, the embryo
started normal development but collapsed in the early stage The F, hybrids
exhibited heterosis for several economically desirable characters. All the hybrids
showed a conspicuous reduction in the number and germination capacity
of I1 ' , and I , seeds. Among the seven hybrids studied, the best economic
combinations were Capsicum frutescens X C. baccatum and C. pendulum X
C. microcarpum.
These results indicate the possiblity of selecting desirable typss combining
the economic attributes of both the parents from the segregating
generations and by back crossing.
