Breeding potential of crosses derived from parents differing in fruiting habit traits in chilli (Capsicum annuum L.)

Crop breeders are frequently confronted with a challenge of shortlisting a few most likely to be productive early segregating generations in terms of high frequency of superior recombinant inbred lines from among a large number of segregating generations which are normally being developed to save substantial resources. The breeding potential of five F 2 populations derived from parents differing for fruiting habit traits was assessed based on first- and second-degree statistics and frequency of transgressive segregants for number of fruits plant −1 , average fruit weight and fruit yield plant −1 using 2016 and 2017 rainy season data. Based on higher mean, wider absolute range and standardized range, and higher phenotypic coefficient of variation and frequency of transgressive segregants, F 2 population derived from JL × 8B was identified as the one with better breeding potential than that derived from other crosses.