Gene Effects on Interspecific Crosses of Chilli (Capsicum annuum L. and Capsicum frutescens L.) for Fruit Yield and Leaf Curl Virus Resistance

Chilli cultivation becomes uneconomical in rainfed or summer due to leaf curl disease which causes yield reduction of up to 50%. Being a viral disease controlling is difficult and hence development of a resistant variety is essential and understanding disease inheritance is needed. Generation mean analysis for leaf curl virus resistance and yield was investigated in two interspecific crosses of chilli namely ‘Mavellikara Local’ x ‘Jwalasakhi’ and ‘Nenmara Local’ x ‘Vellayani Athulya’. The additive (d) component was significant for all the traits studied in both crosses. But wherever dominance gene effects were significant, the dominance (h) values were higher than the additive (d) values. The dominance (h) and dominance x dominance (l) effects were in the same direction, suggesting that complementary-type epistasis occurred in most cases. The dominance x dominance (l) interaction was more predominant than the other two effects. The presence of significant levels of all types of gene actions like additive, dominance and epistasis for most of the important traits especially yield and virus resistance has indicated that a method designed to utilize all of them such as recurrent selection, multiple crosses or diallel selective mating system has to be adopted in the breeding programme.