Identifying Potential Donor Parents for Breeding Against Leaf Curl Virus and Anthracnose Diseases in Chilli

Abstract

Development of multiple disease-tolerant chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) varieties, which can be grown successfully throughout the year, is a goal of plant breeders. The study was conducted to identify chilli genotypes that could be utilized in hybridization to retrieve potential genotypes having tolerance to both chilli leaf curl virus (ChiLCuV) and chilli anthracnose diseases in addition to higher yield. About 26 chilli genotypes were screened for tolerance to ChiLCuV and chilli anthracnose diseases under field and laboratory conditions, and for other quantitative traits. A wide range of genetic variation was observed for all traits under study. Genotypes were grouped into 6 clusters that do not represent the same place of origin, indicated genotypes in a cluster were geographically diverse and genotypes obtained from the same region were genetically different. The principal components, percent disease index (PDI) of ChiLCuV, PDI of chilli anthracnose, and plant height, had eigenvalue >1 and together accounted for almost 100% of the variation. Based on multivariate analysis, fruit yield and tolerance to both ChiLCuV and chilli anthracnose diseases, genotypes ‘Bidhan Chilli 4’, ‘Pant C 1’, and ‘Chinese Bona’ were identified as tolerance sources against both diseases. Highly tolerant genotypes against both ChiLCuV and anthracnose diseases were identified which were less frequent in C. annuum than other domesticated species and inter-specific derivatives.