Identification of field assayable surrogate traits to aid indirect selection for green fruit yield in chilli (Capsicum annuum L.)

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As is true in other crops, selection for quantitative traits such as fruit yield is less effective in chilli, as it is a quantitatively inherited trait controlled by a large number of genes with a large genotype-by-environment interaction. Furthermore, assessing fruit yield is a laborious and time-consuming process based on destructive sampling. The identification of non-destructive, field-assayable proxy or surrogate traits is most likely to enhance the effectiveness of selection for fruit yield. The proxy traits should not only be highly correlated with fruit yield but also be highly heritable. Under these premises, the present study aimed to identify field-assayable, highly heritable traits with a significant correlation with green fruit yield. Ten eight parents’ derived multi-parent (MP) populations were developed from 16 diverse chilli genotypes. These populations were evaluated in experimental plots at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bangalore. The data were recorded on six quantitative traits, namely plant height, fruit length, fruit width, average fruit weight, fruit yield per plant, and green fruit yield per plant. The correlation coefficients of the five traits with green fruit yield per plant were estimated. Results showed considerable genetic variability in all the populations for fruits plant^-1, average fruit weight, and green fruit yield plant^-1. These traits were also highly heritable with high expected genetic advance. However, two of these traits, namely plant height and fruit yield, were significantly correlated with a high magnitude. These two traits, being easily assayed in the field without destructive sampling, could be reliably used as proxies for fruit yield per plant in chilli.