PEPPER VIRAL DISEASES AFFECTING PRODUCTION OF SELECTED GERMPLASM AT CARDI HOT PEPPER BREEDING CENTRE

Hot pepper production in the CARICOM countries occur using seeds of openpollinated landraces from the region, with West Indies Red being the dominant cultivar planted followed by Scotch Bonnet. The Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) developed West Indies Red in an effort to diversify the region's crop commodity portfolio and because of the interest in Caribbean hot peppers on the export markets (USA, Canada, UK). CARDI's hot pepper improvement program has progressed by collecting germplasm of the region, conserving and evaluating these and developing new improved open pollinated landrace cultivars. It has been noted that among the constraints (irrigation, fertilization, pest management, post harvest handling) to field production, virus diseases are probably the most significant. Attempts have therefore been made in cooperation with the Asian Vegetable Research Development Center (AVRDC) to precisely identify the viral disease profile occurring in production plots. The predominant viruses identified in 2004 were CMV and PVY. It is planned that new germplasm resistant to these viruses will be introduced from Taiwan (AVRDC) and screened in Barbados. Accessions found to be resistant in the Caribbean will be used to develop new cultivars via hybridization and selection of outstanding progeny