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Indian J. Agric. Res., 49 (3) 2015: 255-259Print ISSN:0367-8245 / Online ISSN:0976-058X

Combining ability and gene action in chilli (Capsicum annum L.)

S. Spaldon*, N. Jabeen, S.H. Khan and M.I. Makdoomi

Division of Vegetable Science Sher-e- Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences &Technology of Kashmir ,Shalimar Srinagar–191 121, India.Received: 02-09-2014 Accepted: 22-01-2015 DOI: 10.5958/0976-058X.2015.00040.2

ABSTRACTThirteen parents (10 lines and 3 testers) and thirty crosses from line × tester design were evaluated in a randomized blockdesign with three replication during Kharif 2010 and 2011. The results revealed that among the lines SC-23, SC-304,SC-108 exhibited desirable general combining ability effects for most of the traits, while among the testers the Arka Lohitwas found to have significant general combining ability effect for number of fruits plant-1, average fruit weight, fruit length,yield hectare-1 and number of seeds fruit-1. In general, The specific combining ability variances were higher than generalcombining ability variances for all the characters indicating the predominance of non additive gene action. The crossescombinations SC-502 × Arka Lohit, SC-23 × Local, SC-814 × Local and SC-23 × Kashmir Long-1 were identified as goodspecific combiners for most of the traits.

Key words: Addivitve, Chilli, Combining ability, Dominance, Gene action, Line × tester.

*Corresponding author’s e-mail: samrockford@gmail.com. Sonam Spaldon c/o Division of Vegetable Science, Skuast-Jammu, FoA Chatha-180 009.

INTRODUCTIONChilli (Capsicum annum L.) is one of the valuable

cash crops grown in India for its fruits and is the spice ofcommerce. The genus Capsicum belongs to the familySolanaceae, has chromosome number 2n = 24, a native ofTropical America (Mexico) with secondary centre of originin Guatemala and Bulgaria (Salvador, 2002). It is grown foruse as a vegetable, spice, condiment, sause and pickle undertropical, sub- tropical and temperate climates (Hazra et al.,2011). Chilli of commerce is the dried pod and has twoimportant commercial qualities i.e., red colour, which is dueto the pigment called capsanthin and pungency which is dueto crystalline alkaloid called capsaicin, present in the placentaof fruits.(Prasath and Ponnuswami,2008a). Thoroughknowledge of combining ability, nature and magnitude of geneeffects operative in the inheritance of various quantative traitsare improvement for any crop improvement programmes.Thus the proper choice of parents based on their combiningability is a prerequisite. This not only provides necessaryinformation regarding the choice of parents butsimultaneously illustrates the nature and magnitude of geneaction involved in the expression of desirable traits. Thechoice of parents on the basis of per se performance is notalways fruitful (Allard, 1960). Therefore the techniques suchas line × tester analysis developed by Kempthrone (1957), isone such method, which provides an efficient tool for

evaluation of large number of lines at a time for combiningability effects, variances, nature and extent of gene actionwhich is essential for effective management of availablegenetic variability.

MATERIALS AND METHODSTen homozygous lines viz., SC-23, SC-277, SC-108,

SC-105, SC-814, SC-502, SC-115, SC-1001, SC-885,SC-304 were crossed with three testers (males) viz., ArkaLohit, Kashmir Long-1 and Local (Landrace) during kharif2010. Thirty hybrids thus generated by Line × Tester MatingDesign together with thirteen parents (10 lines and 3 testers)were evaluated in a randomized block design with threereplications during Kharif, 2011 at Vegetable Research Farmof SKUAST-K, Shalimar, Srinagar. Each replication consistedof thirty F1’s and thirteen parents. Within a replication a singlerow of thirteen parents and F1’s were planted at 45cm × 45cmspacing and observation on eleven different characters wererecorded randomly.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe combined analysis of variance presented in

Table-1 revealed significance differences among treatmentsfor all the characters studied. Lines and testers (except forfruit width) differed significantly for all the traits. Lines whencompared to testers differed significantly for all the traitsexcept plant spread, number of fruits plant­-1, average fruit

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weight, and fruit width. Performances of crosses was alsosignificant when compared to parents for all the traits understudy. The variance components due to lines, testers and line× tester interaction revealed that the variances due to linesshowed significant differences for all the traits (Table 2,3).Similarly variance due to line × tester interaction were highlysignificant for all the characters and more in magnitude thantheir corresponding variance components due to lines andtesters for all the traits except for plant height, plant spreadand days to fruiting (where variance due to lines was more).

Although variance due to gca and sca weresignificant, however, the variances due to specific combiningability effects were greater in magnitude than variances dueto general combining ability effects for plant height, plantspread, number of fruits plant-1, average fruit weight, days tofirst flower, days to fruiting, days to ripening, fruit length,fruit weight, yield hectare-1 and number of seeds fruit-1.Thisindicated predominance of non additive gene effects. Theseresults are in conformity with the findings of Pandian et al.(1992), Baruah (2003), Srivastava (2004) and Reddyet al.,(2008).

Regarding degree of dominance, over dominancewas noticed for most of the characters like plant height,number of fruits plant-1, average fruit weight, days to firstflower, days to fruiting, days to ripening, fruit length, yieldhectare-1 and number of seeds fruit-1 except plant spread andfruit width partial dominance was observed. Similar resultswere also reported by Prasath and Ponnuswami (2008b).

Among the 13 parents, the highest and significantgca effects for fruit yield per hectare was observed in SC-23(58.325) followed by SC-108 (46.658) and SC-277 (32.042).The parents SC-23 which showed high GCA effects for mostof the traits like plant height, plant spread, number of fruitsplant-1, average fruit weight, days to fruiting, days to ripening,fruit length, yield hectare-1, number of seeds fruits-1. Theparents with high gca could therefore, be consideredsimultaneously for formulating a breeding programme. Theparents SC-304 , SC-277 and SC-108 had highest negativegca effects for days to first flower. These parents may thereforeused in breeding programme for earliness. The parents thatexhibited desirable GCA effects were SC-23, SC-108 andSC-105 for plant height, SC-23, SC-277 and SC-105 for plantspread, SC-23, SC-277 and SC-502 for number of fruitsplant-1, SC-23, SC-304, SC-108 and Arka Lohit for averagefruit weight, SC-304, SC-277, SC-23 and SC-1154 for daysto fruiting, SC-23, SC-502 and Local for days to ripening,SC-23, SC-105 and SC-277 for fruit length, SC-1001, SC-105 and Kashmir Long-1 for fruit width, SC-23, SC-108,and SC-277 for yield hectare-1 and SC-23, SC-814, SC-277and Arka Lohit for number of seeds fruits-1.

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Among different hybrids, the cross combination SC-304 × Local exhibited highest SCA for yield was also a goodspecific combiner for fruit yield, number of seeds fruit-1 andnumber of fruits plant-1. Similarly the cross SC-23 × KashmirLong-1 exhibited high SCA effects for fruit yield, days tofruiting, days to ripening, days to first flower and averagefruit weight, the cross SC-1001 × Arka Lohit for fruit yield,

fruit width, days to ripening, days to first flower, averagefruit weight, number of fruits plant-1 and plant height, andthe cross SC-277 × Kashmir Long-1 for fruit yield, plantheight, plant spread, and number of fruits plant-1. Thus theshort listed cross combination may be tested for yield andother quality traits in chilli for further improvementprogramme.

REFERENCESAllard, R.W. (1960). Principles of Plant Breeding. John Willey and Sons, Inc. New York, pp. 463-470.Baruah,S.J.N. (2003).Combining ability in chilli(Capsicum annum L.).Vegetable Science 30(2):159-160.Hazra, P., Chattopadhyay, A., Karmakar, K., and Dutta, S. (2011). Modern Technology in Vegetable Production, pp. 478.

New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi, India.Kempthorne, O. (1957). An Introduction to Genetics Statistics. John Wiley and Sons, New York, pp. 41-43.Pandian, I.R.S. and Shanmugavelu, K.G. (1992). Combining ability for yield and yield components in chillies (Capsicum

annuum L.). South-Indian-Horticulture 40(4): 202-206.Prasath , D and Ponnuswami,V (2008a). Breeding for extractable colour and pungency in Capsicum. A review Vegetable

Science 35(1): 1-9.Prasath , D and Ponnuswami,V (2008b). Heterosis and Combining ability for morphological yield and quality characters in

paprika type chilli hybrids. Indian Journal of Horticulture . 65(4): 441-445.Reddy,M.G., Kumar,M. and Salimath,P.M. (2008).Combining ability analysis in chilli. Karnataka J. Agric. Sci., 21(4): 494-497.Salvador, M. H. (2002). Genetic resources of chilli (Capsicum spp.) in Mexico. Proceedings of the 16th international pepper

conference. pp 10-12. Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico.Srivastava ,J.P., Singh,N.P and Srivastava,D.K.(2004). Combining ability analysis in chilli (Capsicum annum L.).Vegetable

Science. 31(2):135-137.