Heterotic expression for yield and quality in chilli (capsicum annuum l.) Of himachal Pradesh, India

The present investigation was envisaged to gather information about the potential and characteristics of the experimental material of bell pepper at the Vegetable Research Block, Department of Vegetable Science, College of Forestry and Hill Agriculture, Gobind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Hill Campus, Ranichauri (Tehri Garhwal), Uttarakhand (India) during rainy-autumn season, 2009 to 2010. The combined analysis of 6 × 6 diallel revealed significant variation among genotypes in parents, F1 crosses and parents versus F1 crosses for all the studied characters except for pericarp thickness and number of branches for parents, indicating that the used parents in diallel mating design and their crosses were genetically diverse. A wide range of heterosis over better parent and standard check was observed in F1 generation for marketable fruit yield and its attributing traits. The F1 crosses PRC-1 × California Wonder and California Wonder × SSP had revealed the highest significant desirable heterosis both over better parent and standard check (California Wonder) for early maturity. The F1 crosses (Rani Sel-1 × SSP, Rani Sel-1 × Sel-12-2-1, SSP × SP-316 and PRC-1 × California Wonder) showed appreciable heterosis over better parent and standard checks for marketable fruit yield per plant and quality traits in bell pepper. The high heterotic response as observed in these hybrids further supported by the predominant role of non-additive component in the inheritance of the characters studies. These cross combination could be exploited in heterosis breeding programme. Key words: Heterosis, bell pepper, capsicum, hybrid breeding, horticultural traits, fruit yield.

A study was conducted on “Inbreeding depression for dry pod yield and its components in chilli (Capsicum annuum L.)” at the Department of Vegetable Crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Periyakulam, India during 2013-14. The investigation was carried out with six selected genotypes of chilli namely Arka Lohit, K 1, LCA 334, LCA 625, PKM 1 and Pusa Jwala. All the crosses also revealed inbreeding depression for most of the characters. These traits can be improved effectively through pedigree method of selection. In general, the crosses K 1 x PKM 1 and K 1 x Pusa Jwala were identified as promising hybrids since they depicted significant negative inbreeding depression for green and dry fruit yield and its important yield contributing characters. Low inbreeding depression for yield and yield related traits were exhibited by Pusa Jwala x PKM 1, LCA 625 x K 1 and K 1 x Arka Lohit. The segregating materials generated during this study may be utilized for the identification and selection of desirable recombinants in advanced generations in order to develop high yielding varieties with specific attributes.

Chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an economically important spice crop in tropical and subtropical countries. In vitro plant regeneration was obtained from 15 th day old hypocotyl explants of three chili pepper cultivars (Capsicum annuum L., var. ‘X-235’, var. ‘PC-1’ and var. ‘Pusa Jwala’). Among the genotypes of Capsicum L. var. ‘X-235’ responded better than the var. ‘PC-1’ and var. ‘Pusa Jwala’. MS medium containing BAP (4.0 mg/l) and IAA (0.5 mg/l) was found to be the best medium for the production of maximum number of shoot buds in all the genotypes of chili pepper i.e., 6.80±0.16 (var. ‘X-235’), 5.00±0.19 (var. ‘PC-1’) and 4.80±0.12 (var. ‘Pusa Jwala’). The shoots were rooted on MS medium fortified with IBA (0.5 mg/l). Rooted plants were hardened and transplanted to the soil. The plants showed 80-90% survival during transplantation.

Twenty F1 hybrids from three CMS lines and eight pollen parents were evaluated to study the heterosis for various yield and quality traits in rice (Oryza sativa L.). The findings suggested that the magnitude of heterosis differed from character to character and cross to cross. Majority of the hybrids recorded desirable heterosis for grain yield. Among the rice hybrids exhibiting high heterosis for grain yield, IR-68897A x Pusa Sugandh-3, IR-58025A x HUR-JM-59221 and IR-58025A x Pusa Sugandh-5 were top performers. The hybrid, IR-68897A x Pusa Sugandh-3 recorded highest yield per plant, and was among the best three performers for traits, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity and number of effective tillers per plant. Thus, IR-68897A x Pusa Sugandh-3 may be considered as the best heterotic combination for yield and yield traits. Among the three high yielding hybrids, IR-58025A x Pusa Sugandh-5 was found to be relatively better performing for majority of the quality traits. Thus, IR-58025A x Pusa Sugandh-5 may be considered as the best cross combination if both yield and quality traits are taken into consideration.

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) is a vital vegetable crop known for its nutritional and economic significance, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. Studying heterosis and combining ability in okra is crucial for enhancing its yield, quality, and resistance to pests and diseases. Heterosis can lead to superior offspring with enhanced traits while understanding combining ability helps in identifying the best parent combinations for breeding programs. Okra is an often cross-pollinated crop; therefore, exploiting heterosis is advantageous. The study was conducted from 2021 to 2022 at the Experimental Farm and Quality Analysis Laboratory, Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture, Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India to evaluate the heterosis and combining ability in okra to facilitate the development of high-yielding, resilient cultivars. The experimental material consisted of an F1 population of 30 crosses obtained from 10 parental lines crossed with three testers in a Line × Tester mating design, plus a standard check (Punjab-8). Estimates of heterosis (heterobeltiosis and standard heterosis) of the cross combinations UHFO-6 × Pusa Bhindi-5, UHFO-6 × Arka Anamika and UHFO-9 × Arka Anamika were high for inter-nodal distance, number of pods per plant, average pod weight, pod yield per plant, harvest duration, hundred seed weight, mucilage content, etc. Higher estimates of general combining ability (GCA) effects for pod yield per plant were observed in the parental lines UHFO-6 (123.47) and UHFO-9 (7.49). Among the cross combinations, UHFO-10 × Hisar Unnat (38.81), UHFO-2 × Pusa Bhindi-5 (38.29), UHFO-2 × Arka Anamika (17.42), and UHFO-5 × Arka Anamika (15.06) demonstrated higher estimates of specific combining ability (SCA) effects for pod yield per plant. The cross UHFO-2 × Hisar Unnat (160.00) exhibited the highest heterobeltiosis for mucilage content, while UHFO-10 × Arka Anamika (562.03) showed the highest standard heterosis for total polyphenol content. These cross combinations could produce okra with enhanced nutritional and medicinal properties. The highest GCA and SCA effects for pod yield per plant were observed in UHFO-6 (123.47) and UHFO-10 × Hisar Unnat (38.81), respectively. Identifying these parental lines and cross combinations based on their combining ability can result in the development of okra hybrids with substantially higher yields. In future, after multi-location trials, these parents and crosses can be released to replace existing okra cultivars (hybrids/varieties). Higher yielding and better quality okra cultivars can enhance the profitability for farmers, contribute to food security, and meet market demands more efficiently.

Anther or microspore culture induced haploid and double haploids (DH) are increasingly being utilized by breeders since it can shorten breeding time by achieving complete homozygosity within a single generation. Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the most important vegetables, distinguished by its high level of heterozygosity, making the breeding process very laborious and long. Fourteen different DH lines were obtained as a result of anther culture of four parental genotypes. Data from different plant and fruit morphological traits as well as quality traits including vitamin C, dry matter content, total polyphenols and antioxidant activity were collected. A total of 47 different descriptors for fruit morphology and color were characterized using Tomato Analyzer v. 3 software. Findings from this research revealed significant variation of fruit morphology, quality and productivity traits between DH lines and their respective parental genotypes. Among these studied 14 DH lines, 42.9% were superior to the parental genotypes for fruit weight, width, fruit wall thickness, and usable part of the fruits. As compared to parental genotypes, DH lines exhibited higher values for tested fruit quality traits and dry matter content. Multivariate analysis allowed us to identify the trait combination that contributed to the total variation. A total of eight principle components (PCs) explained 95.4% variation with PC1 and PC2 contributing 32.4% and 21.1%, respectively. Pepper androgenesis clearly indicates its usefulness as a well established technique that can allow pepper breeders to save the time and breeding resources by expediting the breeding process. Our research findings prove the advantages of pepper androgenesis to utilize the diversity of pepper genetic resources and development of novel pepper breeding lines to utilize in future breeding.

An experiment was conducted to study the heterosis analysis for seed yield and quality traits in karinagda [Citrullus lanatus (Thumb) Mansf.]. Experimental material consisting of 35 entries comprised of eight diverse genotypes (used as females) and three diverse genotypes (used as males) and their 24 crosses developed through line × tester mating design along with standard check (GK-1) were evaluated in a randomized block design with three replications. The analysis of variance revealed that mean squares due to genotypes were significant for all yield and yield attributes characters indicate the presence of considerable genetic variability among the material under studied. Heterosis analysis revealed that among all crosses, significantly positive heterosis over check GK-1 with regards to seed yield per plant were recorded by the top performing crosses viz., MGPK 11 × SKNK 1102 (81.13 %), CAZJK 14-1 × MGPK 1 (67.38 %), SKNK 679 × SKNK 1102 (55.12 %), CAZJK 14-1 × CAZJK 13-2 (48.54 %) and SKNK 679 × CAZJK 13-2 (44.83 %). The cross CAZJK 14-1 × MGPK 1 recorded significant and positive for all three heterosis viz., over mid parent heterosis, over better parent and standard heterosis (over check GK-1) for fruit yield per plant among the crosses evaluated. For quality traits cross combinations SKNK 138 × SKNK 1102 (4.98 % oil and 8.12 % protein) was recorded significant and positive standard heterosis over check GK-1.Where ever cross combinations involving either CAZJK 14-1 as female parent recorded significant positive heterosis for most of the yield and yield contributing characters. Thus, the female parent CAZJK 14-1 can be used within breeding programmes aimed for heterosis breeding after proper evaluation within multi-location trials.

Ten genotypes including five lines (Kashi Anmol, Pant C-1, Japani Longi, Kashi Sinduri and Pusa Jwala) and five testers (R-Line, VR-339, AKC-89/38, DC-16 and Punjab Lal) of chilli were crossed to derive 25 F 1 hybrids. The 35 genotypes (10 parents and 25 F 1 hybrids) were evaluated for yield and quality (capsaicin and oleoresin) traits. Highly significant correlation was observed between fruit yield per plant and average fruit weight (g). The direct and indirect effect on yield revealed that the maximum direct effect was exhibited by average fruit weight followed by number of fruits per plant via yield per plant. The crosses Pusa Jwala × VR-339, Pusa Jwala × DC-16 and Pant C-1 × VR-339 exhibited higher level of heterobeltiosis for most of the traits. The higher specific combing ability (SCA) for yield was obtained in crosses Kashi Sinduri × Punjab Lal followed by Pant C-1 × VR-339 and Pusa Jwala × VR-339. Among the hybrids, Pusa Jwala × VR-339 had higher yield as well as capsaicin content, moreover, Kashi Sinduri × AKC-89/38 exhibited highest oleoresin content. These best hybrids (Pusa Jwala × VR-339, Kashi Sinduri × Punjab Lal and Pant C-1 × VR-339) might be utilized for further chilli improvement programme. Key words : Chilli, heterosis, correlation, combining ability, capsaicin, oleoresin.

Chilli is the most important worldwide grown and consumed vegetable and spice because of its colour, taste, pungency, flavor and aroma. Hybridization has assumed commercial dimensions in numerous vegetable crops. Hot pepper offers great scope for improvement through this method. Diallel mating design is useful to select a suitable cross combination from large number of germplasm. Hence, present study was carried out to find out degree of heterosis in chilli hybrids. Six homozygous inbreds of hot pepper viz., Arka Lohit, K 1, LCA 334, LCA 625, PKM 1 and Pusa Jwala were crossed in June 2013 by making direct and reciprocal crosses for yield and quality aspects at the Department of Vegetable Crops, HC&RI, TNAU, India. From the present study, the hybrids were selected on the basis of high per se performance and heterosis. Marked heterosis was observed for all the ten characters studied. Thus, the potential hybrids viz., LCA 625 × K 1, PKM 1 × LCA 625, Pusa Jwala × PKM 1, Pusa Jwala × K 1, K 1 × Arka Lohit and Arka Lohit × LCA 334 were identified for number of fruits, dry pod weight, fruit quality and high yield. These F1 hybrids could be tested in different seasons over different locations for assessing their stability for high yield and quality. The hybrids LCA 625 × K 1, K 1 × Arka Lohit and Pusa Jwala × PKM 1 could be particularly exploited for dry pod yield, since they also had improved economic traits besides good fruit quality parameters. The best hybrids might be utilized for further chilli improvement programme.

Six parental genotypes and their thirty F1 hybrids in a full diallel cross system with reciprocals, were used in the present study to estimate combining ability for quantitative and qualitative traits in hot pepper. The experiment was conducted at Department of Vegetable Crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Periyakulam, India during 2013- 2015. The mean sum of squares due to gca, sca and rca were significant for all the characters which suggested that these parents could have performed differently in different combinations indicating the interallelic interactions. All the traits studied exhibited greater SCA variance than GCA, suggesting that these traits are controlled by non-additive gene action. Analyzing the gca effects of parents for various traits revealed that LCA 625, K 1 and PKM 1 were the best general combiners for almost all the traits. Estimates of SCA effects showed that the hybrids LCA 625× K 1, K 1× Arka Lohit and Pusa Jwala × PKM 1 were found to be the best combiners for yield and its attributes. The hybrid K 1×Arka Lohit was the best reciprocal combiner for quality parameters based on their better mean performance and combing ability. These results suggested that commercial production of hot pepper hybrids and isolation of pure lines from these hybrids is a possible way to enhance the yield and fruit quality .

The present investigation was aimed to study the general combining ability of eight aromatic genotypes of rice and specific combining ability of all possible crosses for grain yield and quality traits in 28 F1’s obtained by 8x8 on way Diallel mating design. The estimates of SCA variance were revealed greater than GCA variance for all the characters except days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, effective tillers/plant and kernel length after cooking. It showed that both the additive as well as non-additive genetic variance exhibited importance for expression of the characters studied. The Parents, Pusa -2517-2-51-1and Pusa Sugandh-5 studied were identified as best general combiner for both yield and quality traits for most of the characters. Crosses, Pusa-2517-2-51-1×Type-3 showed non additive effects for yield traits only. However, the cross Ranbir Basmati x Pusa Basmati-1 showed non additive effects for quality traits. Cross combination viz., Pusa Sugandh-5 x Pusa Basmati-1, Ranbir Basmati x Kasturi Basmati, Kasturi Basmati × Pusa-2517-2-51-1 and Pusa Sugandh-3 x Type-3 showed non additive gene action for most of the yield as well as quality traits. For those traits which showed high performance were under the control of dominance and dominance × dominance gene effects, heterosis breeding would be most effective. Thus, present study aims to develop hybrids performing better for both yield as well as quality traits.

High temperature is a major environmental stress that devastatingly affects wheat production. Thenceforth, developing heat-tolerant and high-yielding wheat genotypes has become more critical to sustaining wheat production particularly under abrupt climate change and fast-growing global population. The present study aimed to evaluate parental genotypes and their cross combinations under normal and heat stress conditions, exploring their diversity based on dehydration-responsive element-binding 2 gene (DREB, stress tolerance gene in response to abiotic stress) in parental genotypes, and determining gene action controlling yield traits through half-diallel analysis. Six diverse bread wheat genotypes (local and exotic) and their 15 F1 hybrids were evaluated at two different locations under timely and late sowing dates. Sowing date, location, genotype, and their interactions significantly impacted the studied traits; days to heading, chlorophyll content, plant height, grain yield, and its attributes. Cluster analysis classified the parents and their crosses into four groups varying from heat-tolerant to heat-sensitive based on heat tolerance indices. The parental genotypes P2 and P4 were identified as an excellent source of beneficial alleles for earliness and high yielding under heat stress. This was corroborated by DNA sequence analysis of DREB transcription factors. They were the highest homologies for dehydrin gene sequence with heat-tolerant wheat species. The hybrid combinations of P1 × P5, P1 × P6, P2 × P4, and P3 × P5 were detected to be good specific combiners for grain yield and its attributes under heat stress conditions. These designated genotypes could be used in wheat breeding for developing heat-tolerant and climate-resilient cultivars. The non-additive genetic variances were preponderant over additive genetic variances for grain yield and most traits under both sowing dates. The narrow-sense heritability ranged from low to moderate for most traits. Strong positive associations were detected between grain yield and each of chlorophyll content, plant height, number of grains/spike, and thousand-grain weights, which suggest their importance for indirect selection under heat stress, especially in early generations, due to the effortlessness of their measurement.

Evolving novel hybrids in bell peppers that satisfy the current market and consumer demand is extremely challenging, therefore development of capsicum hybrids with excellent qualities is the current necessity. In the present study, 15 F1 combinations were developed by crossing 3 male sterile lines and 5 testers according to line × tester mating design at the Research Farm of Department of Vegetable Science, Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan and Regional Horticultural Research and Training Station (RHRTS), Dhaulakuan during 2021 and 2022 to assess mean performance, magnitude of heterosis, combining ability, nature and magnitude of gene action for various yield and yield contributing characteristics. On the basis of mean performance and GCA studies, sterile line MS4 and testers namely, California Wonder and UHF-CAP-27 were found best for majority of characters. MS-4 × UHF-CAP-27 and MS-7 × UHF-CAP-27 were two best cross combinations on the basis of mean performance, specific combining ability and heterosis for majority of the characters under study. Hence, these cross combinations need to be tested in farmers field of mid and low Himalayas.

Nagaland is among north east states of India that has a great potential of rice production. The people have great affinity for their own local rice and take delight in cultivation of their own indigenous cultivars. The great diversity that existed within this region can be useful in selecting prominent cultivars for further improvement of yield and quality traits as these traits has become the main focus of rice breeder across the country. Not only for the people of Nagaland, discovery of prominent genotypes can be further useful for the neighbouring region of the state since the climatic condition of the surroundings are somewhat similar. Considering the influence of good quality rice on marketing and the need of high yielding rice variety to meet global demand of rice this research was taken up in ICAR-RC, NEH, Medziphema, Nagaland during Kharif 2020-2021 to evaluate the inter-relationship and association of quality and yield traits in 81 rice genotypes collected from various parts of Nagaland. Each genotype was evaluated for important yield and quality parameters. After careful analysis, the general phenotypic correlation coefficient was slightly higher than the corresponding genotypic coefficient of correlation. A significant positive correlation with grain yield was observed in no. of filled grains per panicle, days to 50% flowering, no. of panicles per plant and days to maturity. A positive association between yield traits and quality parameters were also observed. No. of filled grains per panicle, no. of panicles per plant and 1000 grains weight were detected to have high direct effect on grains yield per plant. The results of this investigation could be used for estimating direct of selection for improvement of yield and quality traits in rice breeding program.

Developing high yielding cultivars with outstanding quality traits are perpetual objectives throughout crop breeding operations. Confoundingly, both of these breeding objectives typically involve working with complex quantitative traits that can be affected by genetic and environmental factors. Establishing correlations of these complex traits with more easily identifiable and highly heritable traits can simplify breeding processes. In this study, two parental soybean genotypes contrasting in seed hilum size, yield, and seed quality, as well as 175 F9 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from these parents, were grown in 3 years. The h2b of four hilum size, two quality and two yield traits, ranged from 0.72 to 0.87. The four observed hilum size traits exhibited significant correlation (P < 0.05) with most of seed yield and quality traits, as indicated by correlation coefficients varying from -0.35 to 0.42, which suggests that hilum size could be considered as a proxy trait for soybean yield and quality. Interestingly, among 53 significant quantitative trait loci (QTLs) with logarithm of odds (LOD) values ranging from 2.51 to 6.69 and accounting for 6.40–16.10% of genetic variation, three loci encoding hilum size, qSH6.2, qSH8, and qSH10, colocated with QTLs for seed yield and quality traits, demonstrating that genes impacting seed hilum size colocalize in part with genes acting on soybean yield and quality. As a result of the breeding efforts and field observations described in this work, it is reasonable to conclude that optimizing hilum size through selection focused on a few QTLs may be useful for breeding new high yielding soybean varieties with favorable quality characteristics.