Abstract:

Chilli belongs to the genus Capsicum, which is among the world's extensively grown spice crop. India ranks first with an average yield of 1.6 mt ha-1 from the total cultivated area of 7.67 lakhs ha. In Meghalaya, it is the third most important spice crop after ginger and turmeric with an area of 1900 hectares and production 2300 tonnes. However, diseases namely, tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), root rot, tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) etc, leads to a considerable yield decline. It is therefore necessary to transfer the important genes for various characters from one species to another. But there has been very little success due to problem in crossability.The present investigation was carried out to determine as to whether this low success percent is due to pre-fertilization or post fertilization problem and optimum timing for embryo rescue, standardization of hormonal concentration for embryo rescue to get hybrid plant, and hybridity test through morphological and DNA markers viz. RAPD.In the crossability studies, out of the three species (viz. Capsicum annuum, Capsicum chinense and Capsicum frutescens) two varieties of Capsicum annuum, viz. Pusa Jwala and Kashi Anmol, showed higher percent of fruits set when used as female parents while Capsicum chinense and Capsicum frutescens showed no success. Similar results were observed for pollen viability, pollen germination and pollen tube growth.In in-vitro investigation of embryo rescue, the optimum timing for explants collection was found to be 27-33 days after pollination (DAP). The highest percentage of embryo growth was observed with the hormone concentration of 0.5 mg l-1 GA3 and 0.05 mg l-1 of NAA.Hybridity test was confirmed with morphological markers and RAPD markers. Two bands (900 bp each) unique to Capsicum annuum have been identified in RAPD markers OPV-12 and OPZ-4 which confirm the hybridity of the progeny in Capsicum chinense x Capsicum annuum and Capsicum frutescens x Capsicum annuum cross.