ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Comparative Morphological Evaluation of Different Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) Varieties of Andhra Pradesh, India for Agronomic Traits

In the present study, 20 chilli cultivars were characterized based on morphology as it serves as discrete identification indicator and also propose to evaluate cultivar diversity for yield related parameters. Among the 20 cultivars, different quantitative and qualitative morphological traits like, hypocotyl pubescence, hypocotyl colour, cotyledon leaf shape, cotyledon leaf colour, cotyledon leaf width and cotyledon leaf length were studied. A stem length to first bifurcation ranged from 10.80 cm (LCA-424) to 26.33 cm (LCA-620) among the 20 cultivars, taller and shorter stems, taller, wider plant, longer and wider leaves were noticed. Hence, this character could be used for varietal identification. Fruit, fruit length, fruit width, pedicel length, dry fruit weight, seed weight and seed size might be efficiently used for different the chilli cultivars. Fruit positions were divided into two groups viz., Pendent and Erect. Among them, maximum number of genotypes had pendent fruits while only one by Mycoteja produced erect fruits. The fruit yield varied from 83.95g to 295.10g with a mean of 146.82g. The maximum mean performance was observed for genotype LCA-625 (295.10 g/plant) followed by LCA-620 (249.93 g/plant) and LCA-424 (244.24 g/plant), while the minimum value was observed for LCA-305 (83.95 g/plant) preceded by LCA-960 (92.77 g/plant). The study has spawned some important morphological traits, which can be efficiently employed in differentiating the chilli cultivars for beneficial agronomic traits.