Evaluation of Hot Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) Genotypes for Yield and Quality in Ethiopia

Abstract

Hot pepper (Capsicum annum L) is the dominant vegetable crop grown in different parts of Ethiopia playing an important role for nutrition, income generation and foreign currency earnings. The production of the crop, however, is constrained by pre- and post-harvest-pests and limited improved varieties with important traits such as disease resistance.Therefore, a field experiment was conducted at Melkassa and Mehoni agricultural research centers during the main and off-seasons in 2017 and 2018 to develop hot pepper varieties with high green and/dry pod yield and acceptable pod quality. The experiment comprised of seven hot pepper genotypes (PBC-731, ICPN-9#16, PBC-602, Rivival, PGRC-80021, Melka Awaze, and Marko Fana) laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. They were evaluated for yield and physical pod characterstics at two different locations. The overall combined total green pod yield across locations/season and years showed non-significant difference among genotypes, but genotypes ICPN 9#16 (262 q/ha), Rivival (249 q/ha), and PBC 602(208 q/ha) gave higher total green pod yield than standard check varieties in that order. Similarly, though there was no significant difference among genotypes for the combined analysis of variance for total dry pod, PBC 602 (30.8 q/ha), Rivival (29.4 q/ha) and ICPN 9#16 (29.3 q/ha) gave higher yield compared to the check varieties. The per location and combined analysis of variance showed significant (P<0.01) differences in marketable and total green and dry pod yields at Melkassa and Mehoni during the rainfed seasons, but only at Melkassa under irrigation condition. Significant differences were also observed among the genotypes in plant height, pod number per plant, pod length, and pod wall thickness. Moreover, PBC-602 had elongate pod shape, green pod color, smooth pod surface, and highly pungent which are the preference of consumers in green pod markets. Similarly, Rivival had elongate pod shape, dark green pod color, brown dry pod color, smooth pod surface and medium pungency which could be used for both dry pod and green pod markets. Consequently, Rivival named as Gebaba (for green and dry pod), and PBC-602 named as Chala (for green pod) purposes were released for production in agro-ecologies of Ethiopia similar to that of Melkassa and Mehoni. The released varieties thus should be promoted for production under wider areas recommended for hot pepper.

Keywords: genotypes, wall thickness, pungency

DOI: 10.7176/ALST/92-01

Publication date: February 28^th 2022