Breeding potential of crosses derived from parents differing in fruiting habit traits in chilli (Capsicum annuum L.)

Abstract

Crop breeders are frequently confronted with a challenge of shortlisting a few most likely to be productive early segregating generations in terms of high frequency of superior recombinant inbred lines from among a large number of segregating generations which are normally being developed to save substantial resources. The breeding potential of five F2 populations derived from parents differing for fruiting habit traits was assessed based on first- and second-degree statistics and frequency of transgressive segregants for number of fruits plant−1, average fruit weight and fruit yield plant−1 using 2016 and 2017 rainy season data. Based on higher mean, wider absolute range and standardized range, and higher phenotypic coefficient of variation and frequency of transgressive segregants, F2 population derived from JL × 8B was identified as the one with better breeding potential than that derived from other crosses.