Heterosis studies in bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L. var. grossum Sendt) under modified naturally ventilated polyhouse in mid hills of Himalayas

Abstract

The present investigation was envisaged to gather information on heterosis for earliness, yield and its contributing traits of bell pepper. The experiment was conducted at the Experimental farm of the Department of Vegetable Science and Floriculture, CSKHPKV, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh under modified naturally ventilated polyhouse. A wide range of heterosis over mid-parent, better parent and standard check was observed in F1 generation for marketable fruit yield and its attributing traits. The cross combinations viz., DARL-10 (L9) × California Wonder (T2), LC (L10) × Solan Bharpur (T1), Kashmir Sel-1 (L2) × Solan Bharpur (T1), Kashmir Sel-1 (L2) × Yolo Wonder (T3) and Kandaghat Sel-9 (L7) × Solan Bharpur (T1) exhibited the highest significant desirable heterosis over standard check (Indra) for early maturity. The F1 crosses viz., Kashmir Sel-1 (L2) × Solan Bharpur (T1), ARCH-19 (L1) × Solan Bharpur (T1), DARL-10 (L9) × California Wonder (T2) and UHFSP(Y)- 11 (L11) × Yolo Wonder (T3) were the top heterotic cross combinations over standard check for marketable fruit yield per plant and number of marketable fruits per plant. These cross combinations could be exploited in future breeding programme for development of early and high yielding hybrids suitable for cultivation under protected structure in mid hills of Himalayas.