Heterosis Studies on Horticultural Characteristics and Yield of Chili Hybrids

Abstract

The purpose of this research aimed to study heterosis of yield and horticultural characteristics on chili hybrids. Male sterile varieties (A-line) crossed with four fertile varieties (C-line) in a half-diallel cross program. There were 16 hybrids from the crossing program. All combinations grew for varietal evaluation with their parents and commercial variety by using randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications and twelve plants per replication. The results showed that fruit yield of 16 hybrids ranged from 350.0-811.7 g/plant. Hybrid A2 × C4 gave high fruit yield at 811.4 g/plant, which was not significantly different  with  A3 × C2, A1 × C2, A2 × C2, A2 × C1, A2 × C3 and the commercial variety at 750.0, 705.0, 605.0, 593.3, 565.0 and 576.7 g/plant, respectively. Hybrid A2 × C1 showed positive heterosis in all traits, and their heterosis of yield and fruit per plant were 22.9% and 1.3%, respectively. Moreover, the heterosis of fruit length, fruit width, and flesh thickness were 34.0%, 17.0 %, and 5.2%, respectively. Hybrid A1 × C2 also showed high heterosis of yield and fruit per plant (54.1% and 25.1%, respectively). These results concluded that A1 × C2 and A2 × C1 hybrid were suitable to improve for the new commercial hybrid.