HERITABILITY AND VARIABILITY OF MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS IN A SEGREGATING GENERATION OF ORNAMENTAL PEPPER

Abstract

The current trend in genetic improvement emphasizes the need of identification, conservation and transfer of new sources of genetic variation. The aim of this work was to evaluate a F2 family of Capsicum annuum belonging to the germplasm bank of Universidade Federal da Paraiba, Paraiba state-Brazil. For this, 55 plants F2 resulting from the self-pollination of F1 hybrid (134×77.2) were evaluated based on the descriptors for Capsicum proposed by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute. The analyzed variables were the plant height, canopy width, first bifurcation height, stem diameter, leaf length, leaf width, pedicel length, corolla length, petal width, anther width and filament length. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse using an entirely randomized design with 55 genotypes and three replicates of the control cultivar. The data were submitted to analysis of variance and then grouped by the Scott Knott criteria (p≤0.01). There were significant differences between the means at 1% probability by the F test for all studied traits, except for the stem width. The environmental coefficients of variation ranged from 3.30% (canopy width) to 86.81% (leave length). We observed the formation of up to nine groups for the characteristic canopy width and first bifurcation height by the Skott-Knott criteria. Plant height presented seven groups and other traits showed two groups of means. The values of heritability were high, above 60%, except for the stem width (25.1%) The genetic variation coefficient/environmental variation coefficient rate (CVg/CVe) was higher than one for the plant height, first bifurcation height, leaf length and filament length indicating the effectiveness in selecting plants based on these traits. The variability showed in the F2 population should be used in the breeding programs of ornamental peppers.