Combining ability analysis in chilli

The experiments was undertaken to study the combining ability for yield and its yield attributing traits in chilli. The experimental material consisted of seven parents and 42 F1S produced in diallel mating design including reciprocals. Analysis of variance for combining ability exhibited the significance for gca and sca effects of all the characters studied. In the present investigation, BC-28 was good general combiner for both red as well as green fruit yield plant−1, while Konkan kirti and Jayanti was for red chilli fruits and Jwala and Selection-2 were the best general combiners for green fruit yield plant−1 and can be exploited well in future breeding programme. Similarly, in direct crosses Selection-2 x Konkan kirti, Selection-2 x DPL-C-4, Selection-2 xPANT-C-3, JwalaxBC-28andBC-28xKonkan kirti, whilein reciprocal crossesDPL-C-4 x konkan kirti, Jwala x Jayanti, PANT-C-3 x BC-28 and Jwala x Selection-2 were the good specific combinations and would be used as a heterotic hybrids after rigorous screening through yield, disease and pest trials.