Research on chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) genetic diversity

Abstract

An effective selection of parents for hybridization requires a plant breeder to consider the genetic variety of the available germplasm, hence research on genetic diversity were carried out with 20 genotypes of chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) at the Crop Research Institute.Center-1, School of Agriculture, ITM University, Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), during Rubi season of 2022-23. The D2 Twenty genotypes were examined for genetic divergence using statistics. These genotypes were broadly divided into three clusters based on genetic distance. The most genotypes were found in Clusters 1 and 2, with 7, followed by Cluster 3 with 6. Among the different characters studied, Number of fruits per cluster (11.02%) contributed the days to 50% flowering provide the greatest to the total genetic diversity among the genotypes. (10.90%), days to first flowering (10.61%), yield per plant (8.76%), number of flowers per cluster (7.95%) and fruit diameter (7.54%). Cluster 2 displayed a minimum intra-cluster distance of (2.283) while cluster 1 had a maximum inter-cluster distance of (2.719). The genetically more diverse genotypes from the cluster with the greatest intercluster distance could be used in hybridization programmes to produce promising segregants.