Studies on association of fruit colour with other traits in chilli (Capsicum annuum L.)

Abstract

Chilli (Capsicum annuum L) is an indispensable condiment in the Asian continent because of the coloring matter obtained from the fruits which is used as a natural colourant in food-stuffs in place of synthetic dyes, which are harmful. There are 20 carotenoids contributing to the colour of matured fruits, and capsanthin contributes as much as 36 per cent of total carotenoid content in the fruits. Therefore, there is need to develop varieties with higher content of capsanthin in the fruits. The material for the study comprised 36 genotypes which were evaluated in Kharif 2000 in a randomized block design with two replications. Observations on five random plants in each replication of each genotype were recorded for 20 characters, of which, capsanthin content in the matured fruits was taken as the dependent character (Table 1). Genotypic and phenotypic correlation coefficients between capsanthin content and other characters, and path coefficients for the capsanthin content were estimated. The details of correlations and path coefficients at the phenotypic and genotypic levels are presented in the Tables 1 and 2 respectively. At both phenotypic and genotypic levels, the character ascorbic acid (red) had positive correlations with capsanthin content, which was mainly due to its positive direct effect, its indirect effects being nil or of negligible magnitude. Positive association of this character on capsanthin content was reported earlier also [1 and2].