Estimation of the genetic parameters of hybridized peppers (Capsicum annuum L.) F2 progeny begomovirus resistance

Abstract Pepper is an essential vegetable commodity in Indonesia. Pepper yellow leaf curl disease caused by the infection Begomoviruses caused tremendous damage to pepper production in the country. The breeding process through crosses is necessary to produce Begomovirus resistance material to overcome the constraint. In this present study, we estimated the genetic parameters of hybridized F2 pepper under natural infected conditions. Two C. annuum accessions, BaPep-5 has resistance material for pepy-1 Begomovirus (locally called Perintis) and BaPep-4 as a susceptible parent (called Kencana) were crossed to produce F2 progenies. F2 generation from the cross as much as 500 plants were transplanted along with 200 plants of each parent as control to the field. The estimation results indicated that the high heritability value was found in the fruit weight per plant (51.31%), the number of fruits per plant (65.58%), the thickness of fruit flesh (92.24%), fruit stalk length (52.43%), and fruit diameter (96.83%), suggesting that these characters have a level of broad genetic diversity. Moreover, a 100% genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV) is observed in the fruit weight per plant, the number of fruits per plant, the thickness of fruit flesh, and fruit diameter meaning that these characters have a high level of genetic diversity broad. In addition, a 100% very broad phenotypic coefficient of variance (PCV) criteria is observed in fruit weight per plant, the number of fruits per plant, the thickness of fruit flesh, and fruit diameter, suggesting that these characteristics have a variety of appearances. Conclusively, fruit weight per plant, number of fruits per plant, the thickness of fruit flesh, and fruit diameter are the characters with high heritability values followed by very broad GCV and PCV values which potentially be inherited and can be used as a reference for selecting further Begomovirus resistance traits.