Morphological and Agronomical Characterization of Selected Capsicum chinense Jacq (Pungent Chilli) Landraces in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Morphological and Agronomical traits are widely used to study the diversity in Capsicum species, to determine the relationship between various species and to develop identification keys. Capsicum chinense ("Nai Miris") species are still not properly characterized because traditionally more attention has been directed at Capsicum annum species. Hence the present study was undertaken to explore the morphological and agronomical diversity of Capsicum chinense. Thirty three morphological traits and fourteen agronomical traits of 48 accessions germinated from 112 Capsicum accessions were considered. Based on the results of 48 Capsicum accessions, there were no duplicated accessions within the studied accessions. The traits that largely contributed to the variability within and between the accessions included corolla colour, anther colour, fruit colour at intermediate stage, fruit colour at mature stage, fruit shape, mature leaf length, mature leaf width, number of days for flowering, number of days for fruiting, fruit length,fruit wall thickness, fruit weight and 1000 seeds weight Cluster analysis showed three major clusters in the germplasm collection when dendrograme pruned at 1.5 maximum distances One major cluster consisted of 23 accessions of pungent chilli accessions of Capsicum chinense having useful and most common characteristics; annular constriction of calyx and clusters of flowers or fruits at a node which are exclusively found in the Capsicum chinense accessions. The twenty-three accessions divided in to seven sub clusters and showed a wide genetic diversity that exists in Capsicum chinense ("Nai Miris") germplasm.