| Abstract |
Chilli (Capsicum spp.) is the third most important spice crop of the<br/>world. Among the five cultivated species, Capsicum annuum is the most widely<br/>cultivated and traded species in India. Chilli exhibits wide range of genetic diversity and<br/>cultivated for various uses either for marketing as green chillies in fresh form (green,<br/>red, multicolour whole fruits), processed products (sauce, paste, canned chilli, pickles<br/>etc.), dried spice (whole and ground form) or industrial extracts (oleoresin,<br/>capsaicinoids, carotenoids). At present chilli is not cultivated for dry or spice purpose in<br/>Kerala and our requirement is met from nearby states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.<br/>Bacterial wilt is the main problem faced in the cultivation of chilli in Kerala and<br/>already proven high yielding varieties may not be suitable to Kerala conditions.<br/>Identification of spice chilli types suitable for warm humid tropics of Kerala will pave<br/>way for promoting and popularizing their large scale cultivation in Kerala. In this<br/>context, the present study entitled “Screening of spice chilli (Capsicum annuumL.)<br/>genotypes suitable for Kerala” was under taken with the objectives of evaluation of<br/>chilli accessions for morphological characters and biochemical characters and<br/>identifications of types with processing qualities that can be used as spice chilli.<br/>Materials used in this study consist of 35 genotypes including indigenous types<br/>and released varieties of chilli. In the morphological characterization twenty<br/>quantitative and ten qualitative characters were recorded from two replications. Fruits of<br/>all the genotypes were subjected to biochemical analysis of capsaicin content, oleoresin<br/>content and colour value and wide variability was observed for both morphological and<br/>biochemical characters.<br/>Among the genotypes CA 22, CA 27, CA 28 and CA 29 were found taller (more<br/>than 100 cm) and CA 31 was the shortest with a plant height of less than 50 cm, CA 27<br/>had highest leaf length and CA 6 recorded highest leaf breadth. Genotypes like CA 25<br/>and CA 21 were early in flowering (less than 35 days) and fruiting (less than 40 days)<br/>whereas CC 1, CC 2 and CC3 were late in flowering (more than 70 days) and fruiting<br/>(more than 75 days).Distinct variation was observed for fruit characters viz fruit length<br/>(3.9 cm – 12.3 cm), fruit width (0.61cm - 2.32 cm), fruit weight (2.31 g – 13.31 g),<br/>number of fruits per plant (11.9 – 45.4), dry yield per plant (5.6g - 47.53 g) etc.Three<br/>genotypes (CA 23, CA 29 and CA 32) performed better with individual fruit weight of<br/>more than 10g.Number of fruits per plant is an important economic character and more<br/>than forty fruits per plant were observed in CA 7, CA 22, CA 19 and CA 25. In the<br/>present investigation, fresh yield per plant ranged from 39.72 g (CA 26) to 318. 6 g (CA<br/>32) and dry yield per plant ranged from 5.6 g (CA 14) to 47.53g (CA 13). Among the<br/>genotypes, CA 26 recorded maximum driage (39.51 %) and minimum driage was<br/>recorded in CA 14 (7.14 %). High driage (more than 30%) was obtained in CA 26, CA<br/>10, CA 12 and CA 31. Considerable variability was observed with respect to qualitative<br/>characters like leaf colour (light green to dark green), mature fruit colour (light green to<br/>dark green), ripe fruit colour (light red to dark red), fruit shape (elongated and tapering<br/>to conical), fruit surface (smooth to wrinkled) and seed colour (light yellow to dark<br/>yellow) where as no variability was observed for corolla colour. Bacterial wilt was the<br/>major disease observed in field and considerable variability was recorded for the disease<br/>incidence ranging from 0 % to 85 %. Most of the released varieties were wilt prone<br/>except KAU varieties while most of the local genotypes were tolerant to bacterial wilt<br/>as seen in CA 22, CA 23, CC 1, CC 2 and CC 3. The highest wilt incidence (85%) was<br/>observed in CA 15 followed by CA 14 (70%).Biochemical analysis revealed that CA 25<br/>(0.95%)<br/>and<br/>CA<br/>16<br/>(0.91%)<br/>were<br/>highly<br/>pungent<br/>among<br/>Capsicum<br/>annnuumtypeswhere asamong Capsicumchinense types, the highest capsaicin content<br/>was recorded for CC 2 (1.09 %). CA 16,CA 1, CC 2 and CC 3 had high oleoresin<br/>recovery (more than 25%) whereas CA 31, CA 30, CA 8 and CA 32 recorded high<br/>colour value (more than 100 ASTA units).<br/>Correlation and clustering analysis was done between fruit and yield<br/>contributing characters. Correlation analysis indicated that fruit weight was significantly<br/>and positively contributed to fruit length and width, placenta length and weight pericarp<br/>weight and thickness and dry yield.It is revealed that fruit weight and number of fruits<br/>per plant are the important yield contributing parameters.<br/>Cluster analysis is an appropriate method for determining the genetic diversity.<br/>Based on cluster analysis, all the thirty five chilli genotypes under the study were<br/>grouped into eight clusters with significant variation among the clusters and within<br/>clusters for different character studied. Cluster 2, cluster 4 and cluster 8 were distinct<br/>from other clusters.<br/>Based on the study, a few genotypes were found promising as spice chilli (CA<br/>13, CA 16, CA 22, CA 25, CA 27 and CA 28), vegetable chilli (CA 3, CA 7, CA 8, CA<br/>9, CA 10, VA 11, CA 12, and CA 23) and for industrial purpose (CA 16, CA 25, CC 1,<br/>CC 2 and CC 3).<br/> |
