Genetics of some quantitative characters in chilli (Capsicum annuum L.)

Gene effects in chilli were estimated through generation mean analysis for six characters viz., plant height, plant spread, branches per plant, fruits per plant and total fresh and dried red fruit yield per plant. Additive gene effects (d) were important for the expression of plant height, plant spread, fruits per plant and dried red fruit yield per plant. However, dominance gene effects (h) were found predominant for the control of branches per plant and fresh red fruit yield per plant. Digenic interaction as well as duplicate epistasis also displayed their significance in the inheritance of characters studied. The appropriate breeding strategies such as simple or pedigree selection, heterosis breeding, reciprocal recurrent selection or full sib selection in the populations of eight crosses were advocated for the improvement of these characters.