Chilli belongs to the genus Capsicum, which is among the world’s
extensively grown spice crops. India ranks first with an average
yield of 1.6 mt ha-1 from the total cultivated area of 7.67 lakhs ha. In
Meghalaya, it is the third most important spice crops after ginger and
turmeric with an area of 1900 hectares and a production of 2300 tones.
However, diseases namely, Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV), root rot,
Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV), etc. leads to a considerable decline
in yield. It is therefore necessary to transfer the important genes for
various characters from one species to another. But there has been very
little success due to problems in crossability. According to Shoemaker
[4], in Capsicum annuum x C. frutescens, in general about two per cent
seeds were viable when C. frutescens was used as the female parent.
The F1 plants ranged from completely pollen sterile to pollen fertile.
In C. annuum x C. chinense crosses are much easier when C. annuum
is used as the female parent. Only an occasional successful cross was
obtained in the other direction. The F1 were mostly pollen sterile.
Similar results were obtained in the crosses between C. frutescens and C.
chinense. The TMV genes have been transferred from C. chinensis to C.
annuum. Resistance for fruit rot of chilli pepper caused by anthracnose
was identified in C. baccatum and C. annuum by Pae et al. [5] but
unfortunately, these species cannot be crossed easily. C. chinense, C.
baccatum, C. frutescens and C. pubescence are used as genetic resources
for disease resistance genes [6].