Morphological characterization of manzano pepper hybrids

Abstract

The manzano pepper (Capsicum pubescens R and P)  cultivated in central México shows genetic variability  that can be used in breeding programs. The purpose of this  research was to evaluate two hybridization methods and  to morphologically characterize F₁ descendants of crosses  between Manzano pepper morphotypes. The experiment  was carried out from 2012 to 2013 in greenhouse with the  parents identified as white flower (FB), purple flower-long  internode (FML) and purple flower-short internode (FMC).  They were hybridized by the “with corolla” and “without  corolla” methods and the F₁ was evaluated for fruit picking  and morphological characterization. The results indicated  that the protection of the hybridized flower affected fruit  picking by more than 50%. There were no significant  differences between direct or reciprocal crosses (t; p= 0.42),  suggesting no maternal effects. The position of the style in  both progenitors and hybrids was heteromorphic, with 70-  90% at the anther level. The variants of the characters stem  color, corolla color, filament color and style color were found  in the FB progenitor and were recessive to the corresponding  FML and FMC. The low plant size and smaller leaves  present in the FB and FMC progenitors were dominant in the hybrids and negatively and significantly affected fruit  yield and heterosis. The results suggest additional strategies  for genetic improvement in hybrids such as selection of  segregants and backcrosses that would improve fruit size.