June 6, 2023

Globally farmers cultivate chillies in various climatic conditions, and their production is gradually expanding due to chilli’s increased popularity as a culinary ingredient.

Indian farmers cultivate chilli in open fields under biotic and abiotic stress conditions.  However, chillies are more suitable for cultivation under tropical climates because of the crop’s wider adaptability to warm and humid regions with a temperature range of 18 to 30°C.

Abiotic factors, especially heat stress, affect the crop’s vegetative and reproductive development, hindering plant growth and reducing yield fruit quality.  The major reason for low chilli fruit setting under heat stress is decreased pollen viability, resulting in a decreased fruit size, and set.

Temperature and humidity are major in fruit set at different Indian chilli-growing areas.  The Indian coastal region has high temperatures with high humidity, while the central and Northern Indian parts have high temperatures with moderate to low humidity.  Hence, growing a heat-tolerant chilli hybrid suitable for an agro-climatic region benefits farmers who would not like to compromise their crop yield.

Due to global warming, the field temperatures in chilli production areas will likely increase, creating demand for heat-tolerant cultivars to maintain chilli production and cater to consumer demand.

As a leading Indian vegetable seed producer, Noble Seeds Pvt Ltd. has focused on developing crop hybrids with biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. 

Noble Seeds’ breeders continually work on crop breeding programmes to identify and introduce suitable heat-tolerant hybrids for different agro-climatic conditions. 

Chilli is one of Noble Seeds’ focus crops, so the company has introduced suitable crop varieties with high heat tolerance. 

In this blog post, we discuss the success of one of Noble Seeds’ heat-tolerant chilli varieties at Chattisgarh.

The Chattisgarh green chilli or sanna market: Chattisgarh’s green chilli (sanna) market is well known in the Indian chilli trade as it fetches high marketable prices for chillis.

Chattisgarh farmers cultivate chilli by sowing its seeds either in December or January.  Chilli fruit setting at the state’s chilli fields in April and May coincides with high day temperatures of 37-40oC and night temperatures of 23-24oC with 30-40% relative humidity.  Hence, chilli hybrids with Chilli leaf curl virus (Chi-LCV) tolerance and earliness for escaping high temperatures are most suitable for Chattisgarh’s growers.

Noble Seeds’ NBH-Lacchi Hot for the Chattisgarh sanna market: Noble Seeds’ chilli hybrid NBH-Lacchi Hot is the most suitable hybrid for Chattisgarh’s sanna market due to its high Chi-LCV tolerance and early fruit setting within 50-55 days of transplanting.

NBH-Lacchi Hot is a highly pungent hybrid with excellent bearing and attractive fruits.  Farmers can maintain NBH-Lacchi Hot for longer durations in their fields as it is ChiLCV-tolerant and highly suitable for Chattisgarh’s agro-climatic conditions. 

As a result of its beneficial traits of early fruit set, Chi-LCV tolerance and high crop longevity, NBH-Lacchi Hot is helping hundreds of Chattisgarh chilli farmers generate good profits through assured yields and good prices at the sanna market.

NBH-Lacchi Hot flower and fruit setting even at 37-39oC at Chattisgarh
NBH-Lacchi Hot’s remarkable growth at a Chattisgarh farmer’s field after ten harvests.

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