Genetic variability for plant growth, fruit, seed and biochemical traits in bell pepper breeding populations under North Indian plains

Abstract

The present research aimed to estimate the plant growth, fruit yield, seed and biochemical traits among the seven pepper parental lines and their six BC2F1 populations in order to generate information regarding the extent of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance. The study was conducted using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications at the Vegetable Research Farm of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant mean squares due to parents and BC2F1 populations for almost all the studied traits, it indicating the presence of a sufficient amount of inherent variability among the parental line and developed populations which could be exploited via selection. The plant height, fruit weight, fruit width, number of lobes fruit-1, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a and total fruit yield plant-1 were recorded high GCV and PCV among the parental lines and developed populations BC2F1, indicating higher extent of variability for these traits in the evaluated genotypes. The results revealed that traits with high GCV and PCV offer a better scope for improvement through simple selection. High heritability and high estimates of genetic advance were determined for the traits viz., plant height, fruit weight, ascorbic acid content and total fruit yield plant-1, in both parents and populations. Based on these results, we can conclude that these traits are under the additive gene effects and that above mentioned characters could be considered as a good selection indices in bell pepper.