Susceptibility of ten pepper breeding lines to Cucumber mosaic virus disease

Abstract

Pepper (Capsicum annuum) is a major vegetable of global importance. Its production is however affected by varying biotic and abiotic stresses. Virus infections possess a genuine danger to pepper cultivation in Nigeria and all over the world resulting in over 50 % yield losses. Thus, the need to subject available pepper germplasm to screening against virus diseases for possible identification of resistant genes which may be used in breeding programmes to obtain improved lines that are high yielding. This study was undertaken to evaluate the growth and performances of ten pepper breeding lines under cucumber mosaic virus disease. The experiment was laid out in completely randomised design with five replications. Ten pepper breeding lines were evaluated as healthy and inoculated with cucumber mosaic virus and evaluated for their responses. Data were recorded for disease incidence, severity, growth and yield attributes. The data were subjected to analysis of variance. The results revealed that NHPK/D6-1-1 which showed mild disease incidence (36.7 % on average) with an average severity (score = 2.2), produced the highest number of leaves per plant (13) and branches (8) under diseased condition was the least vulnerable. The CMV-infected breeding lines were fruitless except for NHPK/D6-1-1 and NHPK/21-4-1-2 which produced an average of 2 fruits per plant. The selection of NHPK/D6-1-1 and NHPK/21-4-1-2 for further evaluation is therefore recommended for possible CMV-tolerant genes. The identification of virus-resistant breeding lines would provide more effective control of virus diseases in pepper production.