GENETIC CONTROL OF SEED GERMINATION AND PHYSIOLOGICAL QUALITY IN ORNAMENTAL PEPPER

The knowledge of the genetic effects of quantitative traits is important for the success of a breeding program. Peppers are multiplied by seeds, and there is no information about the heritability of seed germination and the physiological quality of seeds. The objective of this study was to evaluate the inheritance of seed germination and vigor in ornamental pepper (Capsicum annuum). Two accessions (UFPB 77.3 and UFPB 76) belonging to the germplasm bank of Universidade Federal da Paraiba (UFPB) were used as parents. These accessions were crossed to produce F₁. The F₁ hybrids were backcrossed with their parents to generate the backcross progenies (BC₁ and BC₂), and were self-pollinated to generate the F₂ generation. The six generations (P₁, P₂, F₁, F₂, BC₁ and BC₂) were sown in plastic boxes, using moistened paper as a substrate. Evaluated traits were germination at 14 days (G14), germination at 21 days (G21), Germination Velocity Index (GVI), root length (RL), and shoot length (SL). Data were subjected to generation analysis. Genotypic variance was higher than the environmental variance only for G14 and GVI. The narrow-sense heritability was lower than 40% for all characters. The degree of dominance indicates dominance and overdominance gene effect for all traits. These effects are unfavorable for selection. The additive-dominant model was sufficient to explain four traits – G21, GVI, RL and SL – with higher correlation values (70%). Only the trait G14 was explained by the full model, indicating influence of epistatic effects.