Received: 21 Jul 2021 Accepted: 06 Sep 2021 Revised: 17 Aug 2021 https://doi.org/10.37992/2021.1204.193 Vol 12(4):1413 - 1421 1413 Electronic Journal of Plant Breeding Research Article Combining ability and gene action analysis of some bacterial wilt resistant intraspecifc hybrids of bell pepper (Capsicum annuum var. grossum) Harnoor Kaur Dhillon 1,* , Sonia Sood 1 , V. K. Sood 2 , R. K. Chahota 3 and Sheetal Rana 1 1 Department of Vegetable Science & Floriculture, CSK HPKV Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, 176062, India 2 Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, CSK HPKV Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, 176062, India 3 Department of Biotechnology, CSK HPKV Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, 176062, India *E-Mail: harnoorkaurdhillon87@gmail.com Abstract Genetically diverse bell pepper cultivars and their 30 F 1 hybrids were developed by means of diallel mating system including reciprocals. Variance analysis illustrated considerable disparity among newly developed bacterial wilt resistant hybrid lines for all the studied traits. General Combining ability (gca) efects were more pronounced than specifc combining ability efects (sca). The gca efects were high with parents DPBWRC-6-1, EC-464107, EC-464115 and DPBWRC-39 for fruit yield and yield-enhancing traits. Further, reciprocal efects infuenced all parameters except fruit width, TSS and lobes per fruit. Among the additive and non-additive genetic variance, the latter had a more signifcant infuence on the inheritance of all studied characters except for fruit width and pericarp thickness. Based on sca analysis, three cross-combinations viz., DPBWRC-29×EC-464107, DPBWRC-39× DPBWRC-1 and EC-464115 × DPBWRC-29 were found to be good specifc combiners for the majority of traits and can further be utilized to isolate superior segregates or released as hybrids. Key words: Gene action, General combining ability, Non-additive efect, Reciprocal efects, Specifc combining ability. INTRODUCTION Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L. var. grossum) belongs to the family Solanaceae. It is popular worldwide for its delightful taste, gratifying favour, aroma, and color. It is grown all over the world on an area of 3.8 million hectares with a production of 36 million tones including hot pepper (FAOSTAT, 2017). In past decades, bell pepper cultivation has gained attention in India due to suitable growth conditions, with acreage and production fgures of 34,000 hectares and 4,87,000 metric tonnes, respectively (NHB, 2019). However, the total production and productivity of bell pepper are still low on an account of poor yielding varieties. Hence, it is imperative to develop a high yielding variety. The accomplishment of crop breeding programs depends primarily on the correct selection of parents for hybridization, knowledge of genetic makeup of the breeding material as well as nature of gene action entailed in the manifestation of the traits to be enhanced. However, it is difcult to fx superior parents that will give superior progenies. The common approach of choosing the parents on the basis of performance, adaptation and genetic variability do not give useful results. In such a situation, combining ability study assists in selection of well combining parents and hybrids for further exploitation. Thus, the investigation on the general and specifc combining ability is very useful in the selection of parents and also in the formulation