GENETIC EFFECTS ON THE EXPRESSION OF THE QUALITY OF THE SEED OF PEPPER GUAJILLO

Background. Even though many studies have been done in agronomic characters, there is no knowledge about studies that address the genetic effects on the physical and physiological quality of seeds in native populations of Guajillo chile (Capsicum annuum L.). Objective. The objective of this research was to identify the effects of general combining ability (GCA), and specific (SCA) on seed quality variables, as well as to determine the type of gene action in them. Methodology. F1 and F2 seeds were analyzed from native populations of chili Guajillo through the accelerated aging test and digitization of seed images. Results. The results obtained show that: 1) all the variables were significant for the GCA and SCA, which indicates that the additive and non-additive effects are involved in the genetic control of these characters; 2) In the crosses with the highest average, at least one progenitor with a high GCA effect participated; 3) The effects of GCA were more important than the effects of SCA for the physical quality of seed, length and fresh seedling biomass; 4) In general, heritability in the narrow sense varied from low to moderate (0.00-0.30). Implications. The information generated about the non-additive genetic effect on the quality of Guajillo seed, can be used in breeding programs applying the hybridization technique. Conclusions. There is no relationship between the best crosses and parents with the effects of GCA high. The parents used in this research have acceptable GCA for most traits, crosses with higher SCA values do not necessarily derive from parents with acceptable GCA values.