MSc

Chilli is one of the important vegetable spice cultivated worldwide and is
commonly referred to as red pepper or hot pepper. It is a crucial commercial crop utilized
as a vegetable, spice, condiment and culinary flavour enhancer. Chilli is mainly used as
culinary supplement to add flavour, colour and pungency. Chilli is an abundant source of
vitamin A and C. Capsaicin and its related compounds present in the placental tissue of
its fruits is used in pain relieve balms and vapour rubs. The green fruits of chilli stand out
as one of the most plentiful sources of antioxidants.
Despite its considerable nutritional value, widespread acceptance among
consumers and extensive genetic diversity, achieving optimal productivity in chilli
production remains a challenge due to lack of high-yielding and disease-resistant
varieties or hybrids. In addition, diseases like chilli leaf curl virus and bacterial wilt are
the most two important diseases affecting chilli production.
In this context, the current study was initiated with the objective of assessment of
morphological traits of chilli genotypes for yield to identify high yielding ones and to
simultaneously evaluate these genotypes against bacterial wilt and leaf curl virus
incidence. The present study was conducted in the Department of Vegetable Science,
College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara during January 2023 to May 2023, using 31 chilli
genotypes.
The analysis of variance among the 31 genotypes of chilli revealed
significant variations across all the traits. Genetic parameters such as Genotypic
Coefficient of Variation (GCV), Phenotypic Coefficient of Variation (PCV), heritability
and Genetic Advance (GA) were computed to assess the extent of variability. High GCV
and PCV were exhibited by the characters like plant height, fruits per plant, average fresh
fruit weight, average dry fruit weight, fruit length, fruit girth, pedicel- fruit ratio, yield per
plant, bacterial wilt incidence, incidence of leaf curl virus, oleoresin content, capsaicin
content, ascorbic acid content. The results indicated that the presence of a broad genetic
base which will be useful in further selection. High heritability coupled with high genetic
advance was reported in most of the morphological and quality characters indicating that
these characters are under the influence of additive gene action. Therefore, it is feasible to
apply direct selection for improving these traits.
Correlation studies indicated that fruit yield per plant was significantly and
positively correlated with plant height, primary branches per plant, fruits per plant,
average fresh fruit weight, average dry fruit weight, fruit length, pedicel length, oleoresin
content, capsaicin content and ascorbic acid content. Interrelationships among plant traits
is crucial for enhancing both yield and quality. Hence, simultaneous selection for these
characters would be advantageous for enhancing chilli yield. Path coefficient analysis
among yield and its constituent traits indicated that the fruits per plant, average fresh fruit
weight, days to harvest, pedicel length, fruit girth and plant height showed direct positive
influence on yield. Path analysis reveals whether the correlation between yield-related
traits and yield is having direct effect, in which case direct selection for improvement is
possible. From the present study, based on the path coefficient and correlation results the
genotypes CA 1, CA 3, CA 6 and Ujwala were recognized as promising or advantageous.
The 31 chilli genotypes were categorized into eleven clusters using Mahalanobis D2
statistic. Cluster I contained the largest number of genotypes (21), followed by cluster II,
cluster III, cluster IV, cluster V, cluster VI, cluster VII, cluster VIII, cluster IX, cluster X
and cluster XI which had one genotype each. The intra-cluster distance was the highest in
cluster I, while the inter-cluster distance was the greatest between cluster IV and cluster
IX. Hence, selecting genotypes for hybridization or developing hybrids, genotypes from
these two clusters should be prioritized.
The selection index for chilli was established based on the characters including
fruit yield per plant, fruits per plant, average fresh fruit weight, incidence of leaf curl
virus and bacterial wilt incidence. Among the genotypes evaluated, CA 3, CA 6, CA 1
and Ujjwala were identified as the top performers. Notably, genotypes CA 3, CA 6 and
CA 1 exhibited superior performance in terms of yield and leaf curl virus resistance when
compared to Ujwala.