Field Reactions of Pepper (Capsicum spp.) Lines and Accessions to Anthracnose Disease in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria

Nursery and field experiments were conducted in 2012 and 2013 at the experimental site of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi in the Southern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria (7o 45’N, 8o 35’ E) to evaluate the field reactions of twenty eight pepper lines and accessions to anthracnose disease of pepper. Fifteen exotic pepper lines developed at the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) Taiwan (AVPP- 0013, 0802, 9809, 9905(Susceptible Check), 0401, 9814, 9807, 0403, 0706, 0513, 0412, 0114, 9801, 9813, 9612) and thirteen accessions sourced locally (Ex-kunkunu, Cayenne, GHA, Prof fintashi, N-M-Iddi, Tugantashi, Bor kono tsifidi, M'daku, African Birdeye pepper, Atarodo, Tatashe, Sombo, Nsukka yellow) were checked for the incidence of Colletotrichum capsici causal agent of pepper anthracnose on the seeds and then screened for field resistance to the disease. The field experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Fifteen pepper lines/accessions which had better establishment were subjected to further screening for resistance to pepper fruit anthracnose under natural conditions. Results showed that African Bird’s eye pepper and Nsukka yellow had the lowest anthracnose severity of 1.0 while Borkono tsifidi and Sombo had the highest disease severity of 3.0 consistently for the two years. Ex-kunkunu was tolerant to pepper anthracnose. Correlation results showed moderate negative and significant relationship (P˃0.01) between disease incidence in 2012 and disease severity in 2013(- 0.458**) while there was a strong positive and significant relationship (P˃0.01) between disease incidence and disease severity in 2013 (0.822**).