Vegetos

Abstract

Ten diverse lines of sweet pepper were crossed in diallel manner to generate forty five crosses. The crosses and parents were evaluated in randomized complete block design during Kharif, 2010 at three different locations. The observations were recorded on various yield and yield attributing traits. Analysis of variance for combining ability revealed that variances due to GCA and SCA were significant for all the traits suggesting the importance of both types of variances in the inheritance of the traits. GCA and SCA also interacted significantly with the environments. The estimates of dominance variance were higher in magnitude than corresponding estimates of additive variance indicating the preponderance of non-additive gene action. None of the parents exhibited desirable gca effects for all the traits simultaneously. However, overall ranking of genotypes revealed that the parents SP-82, SP-640 and California Wonder exhibited significant desirable GCA effects for most of the traits. None of the crosses exhibited significant desirable SCA effects for all the traits simultaneously. However, the crosses SP-29 x SP-640, California Wonder x SP-82 and SP-82 x SP-614 were found to be desirable for most of the traits.