The present research aimed to estimate the plant growth, fruit yield, seed
and biochemical traits among the seven pepper parental lines and their six
BC2F1 populations in order to generate information regarding the extent of
genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance. The study was
conducted using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three
replications at the Vegetable Research Farm of Punjab Agricultural
University, Ludhiana, India. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed
significant mean squares due to parents and BC2F1 populations for almost all
the studied traits, it indicating the presence of a sufficient amount of
inherent variability among the parental line and developed populations which
could be exploited via selection. The plant height, fruit weight, fruit
width, number of lobes fruit-1, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll,
chlorophyll a and total fruit yield plant-1 were recorded high GCV and PCV
among the parental lines and developed populations BC2F1, indicating higher
extent of variability for these traits in the evaluated genotypes. The
results revealed that traits with high GCV and PCV offer a better scope for
improvement through simple selection. High heritability and high estimates
of genetic advance were determined for the traits viz., plant height, fruit
weight, ascorbic acid content and total fruit yield plant-1, in both parents
and populations. Based on these results, we can conclude that these traits
are under the additive gene effects and that above mentioned characters
could be considered as a good selection indices in bell pepper.