Agronomic Character Analysis of 272 Capsicum Resources

【Objective】 The study of genetic diversity of pepper germplasm resources is an important basis of pepper breeding, and the investigation and study of suitable regional germplasm resources can screen out the core germplasm resources with excellent performance, which can provide theoretical basis for the improvement and innovation of pepper varieties. 【Methods】 In this study, 272 pepper germplasm resources were collected for genetic diversity analysis, correlation analysis, path analysis, principal component analysis and cluster analysis. 【Results】 The results showed that the distribution frequency of 22 quality traits was different, the coefficient of variation was between 12.3% and 79.78%, and the genetic diversity index was between 0.8 and 2.4, with the largest fruit type distribution and the highest genetic diversity index. The average coefficient of variation of the quantitative shape was 47.59%, and the coefficient of variation of the fruit-related traits was the largest, both exceeding 50%. Correlation analysis showed that plant height, plant width, first flower node number, commercial fruit transverse diameter, placental size, pulp thickness, single fruit weight, fruit per plant, yield per plant and seed weight were all significantly related. Stepwise regression analysis found that there was a significantly linear relationship between yield per plant, commercial longitudinal diameter, placental size, total fruit number, number of fruits per plant, number of ventricles and total yield (Y=0.202+0.042X₁₀+0.340X₁₃-0.175X₁₅+0.002X₁₇-0.01X₁₈+4.09X₁₉(R ²=0.941,F=6.449,P=0.001)). From the five principal component analyses, the number of fruit per plant, yield, fruit weight, commercial fruit transverse diameter, leaf length and width, fruit thickness, placental size, seed weight, and number of side branches were correlated with total yield. In addition, through SPSS software analysis, the 272 peppers could be divided into 6 categories at a distance of 7.5. 【Conclusion】 The higher the coefficient of variation, the lower the genetic stability, and the number of fruit per plant, yield per plant, weight per fruit, transverse diameter of fruit, size of placenta and seed weight are important agronomic traits directly related to total pepper yield.