TOLERANCE TO CUCUMBER MOSAIC-VIRUS IN PEPPER - DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED BREEDING LINES AND EVALUATION OF VIRUS LEVEL

Tolerance to cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) was introduced from an Indian small-fruited hot pepper accession, Perennial, into several bell-type sweet pepper lines by means of pedigree and backcrossing breeding pro cedures. Tolerance was determined to be incompletely dominant and quan titatively inherited. Breeding lines with variable degrees of toleranc e were developed based on inspection of visual symptoms after mechanic al inoculation. The breeding lines were subsequently tested for their agronomic performance in the field after mechanical inoculation. Their levels of tolerance in the field closely resembled their previous per formances in the greenhouse. There was no association between virus ac cumulation levels in the upper leaves, as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the degree of tolerance to the virus, as determined by either visual symptoms or field performance. We conc luded that the basis for developing tolerant breeding lines from Peren nial is primarily their ability to recover from high virus titer and n ot their restriction of virus multiplication.