Improvement of Chilli: Importance, Methodology and Future perspectives

2. Improvement of Chilli: Importance,
Methodology and Future perspectives
Seminar Leader : Dr. N. Chattopadhyay
Dr. A. Pariari
Chairman : Dr. A.B.Sharangi
Seminar - II
Speaker: Majjiga Sreenivas
Phd 4th Semester
Dept: Spices and Plantation Crops
Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Course No. PSMA 692 Date –29.07.17

3. CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
SYSTEMATIC POSITION, BOTANY & FLORAL BIOLOGY
AREA AND PRODUCTION
GENETIC RESOURCES
BREEDING OBJECTIVES
BREEDING METHODS

4. INTRODUCTION
 Most important vegetable cum spice
crop.
 Cultivated for green or dry fruit.
 Fruits-rich source of Vitamin A & C.
 Originated in the tropical America.
 It is grown almost throughout the
country.
 Pungency-Capsaicin
 The red color of chillies- pigment
capsanthin.
 Good source of vitamin C (ascorbic
acid) (Bosland and Votava, 1999).

5. SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF CHILLI
Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Solanales
Family : Solanaceae
Genus : Capsicum
Specie : annum, frutescence, baccatum,
pubescence, chinense
Chromosome : 2n=24 & 2n=26

6. FLORAL BIOLOGY & BOTANY

8.  Plants are both annuals and biennials. Small
shrub with robust stems grows up to 1.5m tall,
shoot erect and branched, strong tap root
system.
 leaves simple, variable in size, Leaves
alternately arranged or paired.
 The fruit is a berry and may be green, yellow,
or red when ripe.
 Flower: actinomorphic, bisexual, pedicellate,
hypogynous
 Androecium: Stamens 5, epipetalous
 Gynoecium: Bicarpellary, syncarpous, bilocular
or tetralocular due to pseudoseptum. Many
ovules on axile placentation, ovary superior.
 Majority of the flowers open at 5 am.

9.  Anther dehiscence take place during
morning hours up to 11 a.m.
 Stigma is receptive from a day earlier to
anthesis and continuous for two days after
anthesis.
 Pollen grains are fertile a day before
anthesis with maximum fertility on the day
of anthesis.
Chilli is an often cross pollinated crop. Extent of cross
pollination is 63 %.
The extent of cross pollination depends on flower structure
which varies from variety to variety.
Bees, ants and thrips are the principal pollinating agents.
Hand emasculation and pollination is most common method
used for hybrid seed production in chilli.
In chilli plant, emasculation and hybridization can be done
simultaneously (Padda and Singh, 1971; Vijay et al., 1979).

10. AREA AND PRODUCTION
Major chilli growing countries–India, China, Indonesia, Korea,
Pakistan, Turkey and Sri Lanka in Asia; Nigeria, Ghana, Tunisia and
Egypt in Africa; Mexico, United States of America in North-Central
America; Yugoslavia, Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and Hungary in
Europe and Argentina and Peru in South America.
India-major producer, consumer and exporter followed by
China, Pakistan and Mexico
 Malaysia is the largest importer of Indian chilli (~30%), followed by
other traditional importers like Bangladesh (~20%), Sri Lanka (15%),
USA (9%), and UAE (8%).

11.  Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Orissa
and Tamil Nadu forming more
than 70 per cent acreage of India.
 Andhra Pradesh tops the list in
chilli production followed by Tamil
Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Orissa
and Karnataka.
 The per unit production is high in
the States Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana, Tamil Nadu where the
chilli crop is raised under irrigated
condition than in Maharashtra
and Karnataka, where the crop is
raised mainly under rainfed
situations.

12. Area, Production and Productivity of Chilli
Area
('000
Hectare)
Production
('000 Tonne)
Productivity
(t/ha) Year
INDIA 774.87 1492.14 1.93 2013-14
760.98 1605.01 1.93 2014-15
WEST BENGAL 63.60 100 1.57 2013-14
63.60 100 1.57 2014-15
Source: Horticulture Statistics Division, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation
and Farmers Welfare.

13. GENETIC RESOURCES
 International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), had organized plant
explorations and global collection of Capsicum germplasm.
 The Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre (AVRDC), Taiwan
has a collection of 6000 accessions of Capsicum including 2500 for long
term and medium term storage and 2800 have been characterised based on
62 descriptors.

14. • The National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New
Delhi facilitates collection, regeneration, characterization,
conservation and distribution of chilli germplasm to researchers in
India.
• At NBPGR indigenous collections constitute only 18% of the total
Capsicum collections, while the majority of the accessions (2412)
are exotics (Kalloo et al., 2005).
• The NBPGR currently has ~3000 Capsicum accessions under ex situ
conservation.
• IARI New Delhi, IIHR Bangalore, IIVR Varanasi and state agricultural
universities maintain exhaustive collection of chilli.
• In addition, the following AICRP centers also collecting and
maintaining the chilli germplasm. Kovilpatti TNAU (Coimbatore-
TN), Kalianpur (UP), Lam (AP), KAU Vellanikkara, BCKV Kalyani (WB),
AAU Jorhat (Assam) and UAS Dharwad (KA).

15. BREEDING OBJECTIVES
 The breeding objectives vary according to the use of chilli. When
green chilli is used there are some specific objectives which may
differ from those when used as dry or spice chilli. But generally the
high yield, pungency, resistance to biotic and abiotic stress, etc. are
similar for both.
 Higher yield
 More pungency (capsaicin) and oleoresin
 Resistance to anthracnose, virus complex, fruit rot and bacterial wilt
etc.
 Recovery of more dry powder from dry fruit
 More number of fruits per plant
 Higher fruit weight and larger size
 Earliness
 Wider adaptability
 Improved nutritional quality

17. BREEDING METHODS
• Plant introduction and slections
• Hybridization
• Mutation breeding
• Resistance breeding
• Micropropagation

18.  Taking a genotype or a group of genotypes in to a
new place or environment where they were not
grown previously.
 Thus introduction may involve new varieties of a
crop already grown in that area, a wild relative of the
crop species or totally a new crop species for that
area.
 Material which is to be introduced should not carry
any pest and disease.

19. NP46A, K1, CO1, Musalwadi and Patnared are developed by this
method.
• ‘G’ series of Lam Research Station- Andhrapradesh
• L series of Pantnagar – Uttar Pradesh
Co series – Coimbatore
K series - Kavilpatti
Tamilnadu
Heavy yielding and high
capsaicin
Muthukrishnan et al., 1993

20. California wonder, Yolo
Wonder, Chinese giant
and World Beater.
Exotic introductions
Selection from
exotic varieties
Arka Mohini from 'Titan of USA,
Arka Gaurav from Golden
California wonder of USA
Arka Basant from Soroksari of
Hungary.
Paprika CA517 and Pusa Deepti were developed at
Katrain, IARI.

21. CA 1068, Oosimilagai, Lalrang Mirche
and Golconda Mirche
heavy yielding and high capsaicin
LAM Research Station
AP
Kalianpur Red, Kalianpur yellow, Kalianpur selection-1 and
Kalianpur chaman are valued both for condiment and pickle.
Rajendra Agricultural
University, Bihar
Sabour Angra, Sabour Arnal,
Sabour Arun and selections
long, shiny red, high seed content
(55-58%) and
partially resistant to dieback and
virus.

22. J.N. Krishi Viswavidyalay,
Jabalpur, M.P.
JCA 154
Rajpura long Red and long Red are selections best suited for
Punjab conditions
Sindhur is a dual purpose chilli selected
in Andhra Pradesh

23. HYBRIDIZATION
 The mating or crossing of two plants or lines of dissimilar
genotype is known as hybridization.
 The chief objective of hybridization is to create genetic
variation
 The aim of hybridization may be the transfer of one or few
qualitative characters, the improvement in one or more
quantitative characters, or use the F1 as a hybrid variety.

25. • Emasculation
• Emasculation should be done in the previous
evening between 4.00 pm to 6.00 pm before the
flowers open and calyx are still covering the anthers
and stigma.
• Anthers were removed carefully by opening the
petals with the help of pointed forceps from the
selected flower buds.
• Care should be taken to avoid any damage to
female reproductive organs i.e. stigma, style and
ovary. Then they were covered with butter paper
bags to avoid contamination by foreign pollen.

26. Hybridization technique
The pollination of the emasculated bud should be done
in the next morning during anthesis time.
The pollen grains from the desired parents were first
collected in a petridish and then deposited over the
stigma of emasculated flower by brush.
Pollination should be done in the morning from 7.30 to
11.00 am (Kumar et al., 2003). The pollinated flowers
should cover with butter paper bag immediately.
The butter paper bag should remove after 5 days and
crossed fruit should tagged.

28. • Chilli cultivation in Punjab was revolutionized by
evolution of
• A hybrid Capsicum Kt-1 was developed at IARI.
• The F1 hybrid was developed at IARI,
New Delhi.
• It has conical fruits of yellowish green colour which
turn dark red at maturity and very early (60-70 days)
Punjab Agricultural
University, Ludhiana.
chilli hybrids CH-1
and CH-3
hybrids in general, more stable, uniform,
and productive than cultivars
Bharath
Indo-American Hybrid Seeds of Bangalore
(1972)
First Capsicum F1 hybrid in the country
Pusa Deepti
A hybrid Capsicum Kt-1 was developed at IARI.

29. Heterosis breeding
• Superiority of F1 hybrid over both the parents in terms of
yield or some other characters.
• The term heterosis was first used by Shull in1914.
• The first report of heterosis in chilli came from Deshpande
(1933).
• Later a number of F1 hybrids were developed.
• Hardy nature of crop and large number of seeds in a single
fruit enables production of F1 seeds much easier.
• Bruce (1910) reported that hybrid vigour was due to the
presence of dominant genes in the hybrids.

30.  Heterosis in desirable direction (hybrid vigour) is the
ultimate aim of a breeder.
 From the point of view of commercial exploitation of
heterosis, the increased or decreased vigour of the hybrids
over the standard check, i.e., standard/economic heterosis
is of utmost importance than heterobeltiosis (over the
better parents) or the average heterosis (over the average
performance of parents).
 The heterosis of some traits as reported by various
scientists is presented in tabular form under appropriate
headings.

31. Characters No. of hybrids
studied
Mid parent
heterosis %
Heterobeltosis % Standard heterosis
%
References
Days to 50%
flowering
6 - -12.86 to 5.83 -13.33 to 5.58 Sharma et
al.(2013)
15 13.1 to 14.2 -7 .4 to -11.5 11.7 to 12.8 Singh et al.(2012)
−17.46 to 2.78 21.84 to
−11.63%
−8.0 to 5.5 Bhutia et al.
Plant height
(cm)
10 Positive - - Hasanuzzaman
and Golam (2011)
15 34.6 to 43.5 40.6 to 69.4 30.5 to 53.1 Singh et al.(2012)
−28.92 to 18.30 −39.54 to
2.08%
−5.0 to 7.4 Bhutia et al.
Fruit length
(cm)
21 - -14.13 to 9.16 - Shankarnag and
Madalageri (2006)
-49.43 to 28.30 −64.66 to
6.14%
-3.2 to 2.2 Bhutia et al.
Fruit diameter
(cm)
36 High, positive High, positive -51.02 to 229.60 Nandadevi and
Hosamani (2003)
No. of Fruit
plant
21 54 -186.4 21.4 - 167 51.9 – 94.2 Singh et al. (2012)
-23.70 to 37.72 −44.77 to
0.29%
−7.0 to 1.3 Bhutia et al.
Number of
seeds per fruit
30 - -25.30 to 40.90 - Anandanayaki
Natarajan (2000)
Fruit yield 21 91.8 207.5 76.7 Singh et al.(2012)
Heterosis, heterobeltiosis and standard heterosis for different quantitative traits.

32. Backcross breeding
 In backcross method of breeding, the hybrid and the
progenies in subsequent generations are repeatedly
backcrossed to one of the parents.
 The objective of backcross method is to improve one or
two specific defects of a high yielding variety.
 This method is effective when one aims at transferring one
or a few genes.
 Backcross breeding enables breeders to transfer a desired
trait from one variety (donor parent, DP) into the favored
genetic background of another (recurrent parent, RP).

33. A successful case of its use was the transfer of virus
resistance from the species C. chinense to C. frutescens. This
method has been utilized efficiently to introduce genes of
resistance to diseases.
 This method is used particularly for transferring a
single simply inherited character like disease, frost or
drought resistance and earliness from an undesirable
variety to a good commercial variety.

34. • A suitable recurrent parent must be available which lacks in one or
two characteristics.
• A suitable donor parent must be available
• The character to be transferred must have high heritability and
preferably it should be determined by one or two genes.
• A sufficient number of back crosses should be made so that the
genotype of recurrent parent is recovered in full.

35. • at AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center - Taiwan,
Colletotrichum resistance from C. chinense PBC932 to was
successfully transferred to C. annuum progressive lines
through conventional backcrossing
Suwor et al., 2015

36. MUTATION BREEDING
• Mutation is a sudden heritable change in a characteristic
of an organism.
• Mutations produced by changes in the base sequences of
genes (as a result of base pair transition or trans version,
deletion, duplication or inversion, etc.) are known as gene
or point mutations.

37. Mutations may be artificially induced by a
treatment with certain physical or chemical
agents
Mutations occur in natural populations (without any treatment
by man) at a low rate; these are known as spontaneous
mutations.
The frequency of spontaneous mutations is generally one in 10
lacs.
 Agents used for producing them are termed as Mutagens.
 The utilization of induced mutations for crop improvement
is known as mutation breeding.
Induced
mutations

38. 1) Alkylating agents, 2) Base analogues,
3)Acridine dyes, and 4) others.
Eg. EMS, DES and NMU etc
Physical mutagens
X-rays, gamma rays, alpha particles, beta
particles, fast and thermal (slow)
neutrons and ultra violet rays.
The chemical mutagens
Diethyl Sulphate DES
Nitrosomethyl urea (NMU)

39.  Induced mutagenesis has been recognized as the most
efficient method for induction of morphological and
genetical variabilities in plant especially in those with
limited genetic variabilities.
 Mutagenesis has acquired popularity because of its
simplicity, technical and economic viability, applicability to
all plant species and usability at small or large scales
(Siddiqui and Khan, 1999).

40. • Seeds of chilli were mutagenised with ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS)
and diethyl sulphate (DES)
• The increasing concentration of EMS and DES decreased in morphological
and yield characters.
• Germination (%), plant height, primary and secondary branches per plant,
days to first flowering, fruit length (cm), fruit girth (cm), total number of fruits
per plant, number of seeds per fruit, seed weight per fruit (g), 100 seed
weight (g) and pericarp: seed ratio showed variability in chilli with the effect
of EMS and DES.
Gandhi et al., 2014

41. Mean performance of Capsicum annuum in relation to different
concentration of EMS and DES
Treatment
Conc. (mM)
Germi
nation
(%)
Plant
height
(cm)
Primary
branche
s per
plant
Secondary
branches
per plant
Days to
first
flowering
Fruit
length
(cm)
Fruit girth
(cm)
Total no.
of fruits
per plant
No. of
seeds
per fruit
(g)
Seed
weight per
fruit (g)
100-seed
weight
(g)
Peicarp:
seed
ratio
Contro 78.5 65.6
0
5.96 6.05 48.94 7.14 1.95 50.14 70.4 0.456 0.501 1.7
EMS 10
73.5 62.12 5.93 5.84 50.54 7.30 1.78 50.56 70.52 0.439 0.503 1.3
20 67.4 60.2
7
5.01 6.00 52.12 6.88 1.49 47.35 64.56 0.400 0.458 1.4
30 54.2 63.9
5
5.83 5.84 55.34 6.53 1.38 52.02 63.02 0.389 0.477 1.2
40 28.0 57.3
0
3.05 3.25 61.06 5.53 1.05 28.44 57.35 0.380 0.376 0.6
50 22.8 45.8
3
2.81 3.46 60.56 4.63 0.75 20.18 53.68 0.301 0.333 0.6

42. • Aruldoss and Mullainathan 2015 studied on Effect of
Gamma Rays and EMS on Phytochemical Constituents in
Chilli (Capsicum annuum (L). Var- K1 on M2 Generation
• The seeds were treated with different concentration of
(30kR, 40kR and 50kR) Gamma rays and (20mM, 30mM
and 40mM) of EMS. The M1 seeds were used to rise M2
generation.
Aruldoss and Mullainathan 2015
• The results of the present study suggest that concentration
of Gamma rays treatment at (40kR) and (30mM) EMS
treated plants increased the chlorophyll, Capsaicin,
Oleoresin, Capsanthin and Ascorbic acid contents in chilli.

43.  Released in 1977 by Agriculture College and
Research Institute, Madurai for commercial
cultivation.
 This variety was developed by treating the seeds of
variety 'KT by gamma rays. The variety have
compact plant type, higher yield and capsaicin
content.
Varieties developed through
Mutation breeding
MDU-I

44. RESISTANCE BREEDING
• Anthracnose, bacterial leaf spot and virus complex (TMV,
CMV, PVX and PVY) are important diseases of chillies in
India
• In the resistance breeding programme, resistant genes were
reported in C baccatum (Anthracnose, Phytoptfiom and CMV);
C. chinense (Anthracnose, TMV, leaf curl virus and verticillium
wilt) and C.fnttescens (leaf curl virus).

45. •

46. Identified resistant/tolerant source against major pests of chilli in
India.
Biotic stress and causal
organism
name of the variety/germplasm Name of line and
reference
Anthracnose
(Colletotrichum spp.)
Bhut Jolokia Garg et al., 2013
PBC80 (VI046804), PBC81 (VI046805), PBC932
(VI047018); LLS, Breck-1, Breck-2, Jaun
Kaur et al., 2011
Chili/pepper leaf curl virus
(ChiLCV)
BS35, GKC29, Bhut Jolokia Kumar et al., 2006b;
Kumar et al., 2011
CHUH-4 Mondal, 2013
Bhut Jolokia, GKC-29 and BS-35 Rai et al., 2014
Chili veinal mottle virus
(ChiMoV)
Individual plant selections from: PBC495 (VI037455),
PBC569 (VI046889), PBC371 (VI039369), Tiwari (Erect),
9852-131 (AVPP9807), Punjab Gucchedar, Perennial,
Punjab Surkh, PusaSadabahar, Pant C1, Perennial HDV
Reddy and Reddy,
2010)
Cucumber mosaic
virus (CMV)
Perennial, PBC495 (VI037455), VC246, VR42, VR55 Reddy and Reddy,
2010

47. Nematode (Meloidogyne
javanica)
EC402105, EC402113, EC405253, NIC19969,
EC391083, EC391087, EC378632, EC378688
Pandravada et al.,
2010
Thrips Caleapin Red, Chamatkar, P46-A, X1068, X743,
X1047, BG4, X226, X230, X233
Kalloo et al., 2005
Yellow mites Jwala, RHRC Erect, AEG77 Desai et al., 2007
Resistant to leaf curl virus Pusa Jwala Tewari and
Ramanujam (1974)
Multiple virus resistant
varieties
Perennial, BG1, Lorai and Punjab Lal Punjab Agricultural
University, Ludhiana.
Resistance to leaf curl
virus.
CH1’, ‘CH3’ and ‘CH27 Hundal et al., 1995
CH27’ Dhaliwal et al, 2013
Highly resistance to leaf
curl virus.
GKC29’, ‘BS35’ and ‘EC497636 Kumar et al., 2006
GKC29’, ‘BS35’ and Bhut Jolokia Rai et al., 2014
Moderately resistance to
leaf curl virus.
Punjab Sindhuri’
and ‘Punjab Tej’
Dhaliwal et al., 2013
Cont…..

48. MICROPROPAGATION
 Micropropagation is the regeneration of whole plants from
small piece of plant material or tissue.
 Many plant cells are ‘totipotent’
Ability of a single cell to develop in
to a complete plant (Totipotency)
This is the foundation of all tissue
culture work.

49.  The conventional method of propagation using seeds is
restricted by the short span of viability and low
germination rate of seeds.
 Moreover, chilli plants are also highly susceptible to
fungal and viral pathogens (Morrison et al., 1986).
 Propagation of plants through tissue culture offers a
unique advantage over conventional propagation
methods for conserving and mass multiplication,
production of virus free planting material.
 Since the plants also lack natural vegetative
propagation, tissue culture methods provide a novel way
for the asexual multiplication of these chilli pepper
plants.

50.  To get genetically uniform plants in large number.
 Only a small explant is enough to get millions of plants with extremely
high multiplication rate.
 It can be used to minimise the growing space in commercial
nurseries.
 Material multiplied by micro propagation can be maintained in small
place, packing and transport is also easy due to small size.

52.  Research attempts to examine the potential of capsaicinoids
synthesis under in-vitro culture by chilli pepper cells, tissues
and organs has been also made (Kehie et al., 2014).
 Formation of rosette shoots and ill-defined shoot buds and
genotypic dependent tissue culture response in peppers have
hampered progress in tissue culture advancements and
genetic transformation of chilli.
• Kothari et al., 2010
 Recently, embryo rescue was successfully attempted to
bypass pre-zygotic barriers in inter specific crosses
(Debbarama et al., 2013).

53. • Shoot-tip, cotyledon, distal part of cotyledon and hypocotyl uses as
explants
• Cultured on MS medium supplemented with B5 or L2 vitamins, and
different content of growth regulators: 2,4-D, benzyladenine (BA), indole-3-
acetic acid, and zeatin.
• Abundant callus have been developed on explants cultured on initial media
with 2,4-D.
• The best response of regenerative ability showed calli induced on
cotyledon explants after transfer on MS-B5 medium supplemented with
benzyladenine and gibberellic acid.
• Direct shoot regeneration have been obtained only from basal part of shoot
tip explants cultured on media with benzyladenine or zeatin alone, and with
benzyladenine and indole- 3-acetic acid.
• Regenerated shoots, rooted on MS-B5 medium with indole-3-acetic acid,
were successfully transferred in the glasshouse conditions.
• Plants regenerated from callus cultures grown ex vitro showed differences
in their morphological and physiological traits.
Berljak,1999

54. • In vitro plant regeneration in Capsicum chinense Jacq. (Naga
Chili)
• Multiple shoot was induced by culturing explants in MS medium
supplemented with BA in combination with IAA
• Maximum numbers of shoot buds were induced in MS medium
containing 5 mgl-1 BA and 0.5 mgl-1 IAA.
• Successful induction of callus from stem segments of in vitro
raised plants were achieved in MS medium in combination with
3 mgl-1 Benzyl adenine (BA) and 1 mgl-1 l-Naphthaleneacetic
acid (NAA).
Rahul et al.,

55. Mean number of shoots per different combinations of plant growth regulators
Shoot elongation and rooting were achieved in MS basal
medium. This is the first successful report of plant regeneration
from calluses in Capsicum chinense Jacq. Naga Chili.
This protocol can be used as a cost effective method for the
production of disease free planting materials and for genetic
improvement and conservation of the crop.
Rahul et al.,
Conti…

56. Conclusion
 Characters like fruits per plant, pericarp thickness, fruit size,
fruit weight and oleoresin content can be used for selection.
 Heterosis can be manifested using diverse germplasm.
 Mutation can be employed to create new useful mutant for crop
improvement.
 Biotic and Abiotic stress tolerant germplasm present in nature.
 Disease resistant cultivar can be developed through crossing
and backcrossing with resistance germplasm.

57. Future
perspectives
• Continuous research work is necessary for improvement of this crop
through introduction, selection and hybridization and many other breeding
methods.
• This is essential because no research work is static. For example, in chilli
global problems like viral diseases, pest complexes etc. need to be
addressed periodically to make the research sustainable.
• Moreover, as the resistance to biotic and abiotic stress in improved chilli
varieties may be broken, newer varieties also to be developed for the
resume.
• Improved tools like molecular markers, tissue culture, etc. may be
employed for meeting the short as well as long term breeding goals.
• Climate resilient varieties may be developed to make the crop more
climate smart. Introduction of heat and drought tolerance germplasm as a
strategy for climate change.
 Development of location specific varieties.
 To develop a varieties which can maintain as such capsaicin content
even after a longer storage period.
 Development of varieties with higher antioxidant and oleoresin content.