To elucidate the genetic nature of bushy plant type in the variant strains derived from grafting, testcrosses were made on the one hand between one of the variant strains, G
5S
17, and both Yatsubusa and Spanish Paprika, and on the other hand between the two cultivars.
The bushy strain has more nodes and branches on the main stem than the two cultivars.
This bushy plant character was recessive to cv. Yatsubusa used as a scion and over-recessive to cv. Spanish Paprika used as a root stock.
Such graft-induced change from recessive to over-recessive as bushy plant type was quite different from other varied characters such as, fruit shape, capsaicin content and guard cell size, which were generally intermediate between the two cultivars.
Index words
Capsicum annuum
- grafting - plant type - node - branch