Cytoplasmic genetic male sterility in chilli (Capsicum annuum L.)

Abstract

Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is an important commercial spice cum vegetable crop grown in India and occupies an area of 0.956 m. ha with an annual production of 0.945 m. tonnes (1). Though India stands first in chilli cultivation covering 45 per cent of the world hectarage, its productivity is quite low (1 tlha dry chilli) as compared to USA, China, South Korea, Taiwan, etc. (3-4 tlha dry chilli). The main reason for low productivity in India is the use of open pollinated varieties and only 2.6 per cent of chilli area is under hybrid varieties (2). The recent experience provides the superiority of F1 hybrids in chillies for earliness, high productivity, high fruit weight and above all high dry recovery (3 and 4). Development of hybrid seeds by hand emasculation and pollination is a tedious process and involves high cost. Exploitation of heterosis economically depends on the development of new techniques, which lead to cheap hybrid seed production. The concept of male sterility has been commercially exploited in several vegetable, fruit, spice and flower crops.