Determination of the relatedness, ease of hybridization and gene exchange among members of the genus Capsicum in Nigeria

Abstract

The fruit of Capsicum plants have a variety of names depending on place and type. This research was focused at studying the exchange of genes amongst members of the genus Capsicum in Nigeria. The process of interspecific and intervarietal hybridization of two (2) species of the genus Capsicum; C. annuum and C. frutasense were carried out and the results show that most of the studied attributes like arrangement of leaves, shape of leaves, leaf density were undetermined while majority with distinct changes follow maternal inheritance. There were less successes among the interspecific crosses and high successes between varietal crosses ranging from 19.5% to 2.4% for the inter-varietal cross and 9.3% to 2.4% for interspecific crosses. This indicates that there are more hybridization barriers among interspecific hybridization than inter-varietal hybridization. The closely related species and varieties had higher percentage success of hybridization and vice versa. Characters such as Hypocotyl colour had partial dominance. Erect flower position is dominant in W and hybrid T*W while pendant is recessive. Red fruit colour at maturity, green fruit stalk colour was dominant while yellow was recessive. A good knowledge of how related species of the genus Capsicum are, the easier it will enable researchers to hybridize and improve the genus.