Effect of Fruiting Habit Traits on Fruit Yield and Its Contributing Traits in Chilli ( Capsicum annuum L.)

: Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) produces fruits with varying orientation and number at each node. They are considered as fruiting habit traits in chilli. Farmer, producer and consumer preference for fruiting habit traits varies from region to region. For increased acceptability by farmers and consumers, high yielding cultivars should be bred with preferred fruiting habit traits. An investigation was carried out to study the influence of fruiting habit traits on fruit yield and its components in chilli at Bengaluru, India. The F2 individuals derived from crosses involving parents differing for single or both fruiting habit traits were grouped into fruiting habit classes. The means of fruiting habit classes in F2 populations were compared and statistically tested. The non-significant mean differences of fruiting habit classes for fruit yield and its components indicated lack of influence of fruiting habit traits on fruit yield and its components.


INTRODUCTION
Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the most important commercial and spice crops of India. Chilli produces fruits with varying orientation and number referred to as fruiting habit. Fruit orientation is either pendant or erect (Lee et al., 2008) and number of fruits at a node is either one (solitary) or more than one (clustered). The fruit orientation is inherited by a recessive gene in chilli (Lee, 1994). Farmer/producer and consumer preferences for fruiting habit varies from region to region in India. Hence, fruit yield, the edible/economic product need to be maximized under preferred fruit habit background. We hypothesize that fruit yield in chilli is not affected by fruit habit. Thus, it should be possible to develop high fruit yielding cultivars with preferred combination of fruit habit. Therefore, the present study was carried out to test the hypothesis.  (Table 1) were chosen for the study.

Experimental material
Six genotypes were used to generate four types of crosses (CE × SE, CP × SP, SE × CP and CE × SP) ( Table 2)

Statistical analysis
The average fruit yield and its component traits of the F2 individuals classified under two fruiting habit classes and four fruiting habit classes were computed. The significant differences in average fruit yield and its component traits between two fruiting habit classes namely, (1) cluster and single, and (2) pendent and erect were examined using two sample t-test. Significance of differences in fruit yield and its component traits between four fruiting habit classes namely, (1) clustered-erect, (2) clustered-pendent, (3) single-erect and (4) singlependent was examined using F-test (Fisher, 1950). Non significance and significance of t and F tests indicate lack of influence and significant influence of fruiting habit traits on fruit yield and its component traits, respectively.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The average fruit number, average fruit weight, fruit length and green fruit yield per plant in F 2 populations varied with the type of cross (parental combinations) and also with the fruit habit class in both seasons (Table 3). The magnitude of average fruit weight, fruit number per plant, fruit length and green fruit yield per plant were higher in F2 generations derived from PJ × CMS 10B compared to those in the F2 generations derived from three other crosses in both seasons. These results clearly indicated the need for preferential allocation of resources for evaluation of segregating generations derived from PJ × CMS 10B for selection of genotypes with desired combination of fruiting habit traits coupled with higher green fruit yield. In F2 generations derived from JL × UA and PJ × CMS 10B crosses, the average fruit length, fruits per plant, average fruit weight and green fruit yield per plant were comparable between CE and SE, and SP and CP fruiting habit classes, respectively as indicated by non-significance of two sample t-test (Table 3, Fig.1). Similarly, in F2 generations derived from UA × PJ and PS × CMS 6B crosses, the average fruit length, fruits per plant, average fruit weight and green fruit yield per plant were comparable among SP, SE, CP and CE fruiting habit classes as indicated by non-significance of F-tests (Table 3 and Figure.1).

Figure 1. Average (A) fruit weight, (B) fruit yield, (C) number of fruits per plant and (D) fruit length of the F2 genotypes grouped under different fruiting habit classes
These results have significant bearing on developing high fruit yielding chilli cultivars. It is possible to develop high yielding cultivars with any fruiting habit trait as preferred by different consumer preference segments. Further, as both fruit orientation (Dhamayanthi and Reddy, 2001) and fruits per node (Gopalakrishnan et al., 1989) are monogenically controlled, they could be used as diagnostic descriptors for germplasm characterization and purity assessment, for identifying duplicates in the germplasm, testing true hybridity of crosses and finger printing the varieties for protection of intellectual property associated with their development.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggested lack of effect of fruit habit traits on fruit yield and its component traits.