COMBINING ABILITY FOR MORPHO-AGRONOMIC TRAITS IN ORNAMENTAL PEPPER

The Capsicum genus contains agronomically important ornamental plants. Knowledge of the genetic effects is necessary for efficient plant selection in breeding programs. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of general combining ability (GCA), specific combining ability (SCA) and reciprocal effects of ornamental pepper plant traits. Manual crosses were made among six lines belonging to the germplasm bank of the Center for Agricultural Sciences at Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB 131, UFPB 132, UFPB 348, UFPB 349, UFPB 358, and UFPB 449) in a complete diallel cross, forming 30 hybrids. Eighteen quantitative descriptors were characterized. Data were subjected to ANOVA. Diallel analysis was performed to estimate GCA and SCA effects, using a fixed model of Griffing’s method I. The analysis of variance showed significant differences among genotypes for the evaluated traits. The ^Φ²g/^Φ²s ratio values were greater than 1 for height at first bifurcation, corolla length, and number of stamens, indicating predominance of additive effects controlling these traits. For seedling height, cotyledonary leaf length, cotyledonary leaf width, hypocotyl width, stem length, stem width, crown width, plant height, leaf width, leaf length, pedicel length, number of petals, petal diameter, anther length, and style length, the ^Φ²g/^Φ²s ratio values were lower than 1, indicating predominance of non-additive effects. The results suggest the possibility of exploitation of hybrid vigor for these traits.