Heterosis and Combining Ability in Partial Diallel Crosses of Sweet Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

The present study was aimed at evaluating various crosses under a partial diallel mating design for quantitative and qualitative parameters to develop suitable F1S. Heterosis and combining ability studies of 25 hybrids along with their 10 parents were carried out. Analysis of variance for combining ability revealed that variances due to GCA (general combining ability) and SCA (specific combining ability) were highly significant for all the characters studied indicating the importance of additive and non-additive gene effects. Significant relative heterosis was revealed in order of magnitude by total chlorophyll (283.10%) followed by fruit yield/plant (198.11%), ascorbic acid (148.22%) fruit weight (93.13%), number of fruits/plant (60.08%), pericarp thickness (40.74%), fruit circumference (34.23%) and fruit length (12.50%). In view of the best performance in yield, the F1 hybrid (09/Cvar1 x DARL 74) may be recommended for commercial utilization followed by (09/Cvar 5 x DARL 82).