ABSTRACT

Three experiments were carried out using ten collections of pepper (Capsicum spp) with the aim of developing high yielding varieties. The ten collections were first evaluated in the field and six selected genotypes used in a hybridisation experiment. Parents and hybrids were again evaluated in another field experiment. Analysis of variance was performed on the collected data. Also the data was subjected to correlation and regression analysis. Heritability estimate in the broad sense was obtained in the first experiment while mid and better parent heterosis was obtained for the hybrids. Very high significant variations were detected for plant dry weight, number of flowers per plant, fruit length and number of fruits per plant (P<0.001). Plant height, number of branches per plant, number of leaves per plant, number of days to flowering, fruit yield, fruit width at widest portion, number of seeds per fruit all showed highly significant differences (P<0.01). Number of days to physiological maturity also varied significantly (P<0.05). Percentage of successful crosses in experiment ranged from 14.91% to 71.03% with germination percentage between 26.45% to 89.64%. Similarly field evaluation of six parents and 29 hybrids showed highly significant differences for the various attributes. F1 hybrids were significantly different from values Of Mid parent and Better parent heterosis. Heritability was generally not high for the various attributes excluding plant height which expressed 67.87%. Correlation and regression analyses identified the major morphological attributes contributing to yield as number of flowers, number of fruits, fruit width at widest portion and fruit length. Two crosses PBC 398 x Dangariwa and Tattasai-M x PBC 398 stood out as being superior to their Better parents. Hybridisation and selection are recommended for improving fruit yield in pepper.