Comparison of Pure Lines Selected from Local landraces of Papper (Capsicum annuum L.)

Abstract

Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is a self pollinated crop of Solanaceae family. Iran is known as one of the diversity zones of pepper. For genetic improvement of Iranian pepper landraces, a pure line selection program was conducted in the experimental field of Seed and Plant Improvement Institute in karaj during 2010-2012 cropping seasons. Six Iranian pepper landraces, including Ghalehbala, Khankhodi, Foroumad, Baram, Guilan and Hamedan were evaluated in this program. In the first year, Single plants were selected from each landrace based on quantitative and qualitative traits. In the second year, seeds of each selected plant were planted in separate rows together with their maternal landraces as control and at the end of season, thirty superior lines were selected. Totally 33 entries including 30 selected lines, the Singer hybrid and the two maternal landraces (Guilan and Ghalehbala) were compared in a randomized complete block design with three replications in the third year. Finally 17 high yielding pepper lines with good fruit uniformity and well known marketing quality were selected. The selected lines had significantly higher yield than their material parents, so that the yield of thick peppers was 10-40 percent and thin peppers 16-31 percent higher than those of the material landraces.