ABSTRACT
A survey was performed in order to characterize the available phytogenetic resources of Chili pepper (Capsicum annun. L.). A sample of one hundred and twenty-six (126) individuals was used in the study. They included 85 traders, 25 producers and 16 seed promotion institutions from Yaounde, (Cameroon) and its supply areas. Respondents described eighteen varieties of pepper by production zones (12.91%) and colours (19.35%), while 65.59% of the respondents have no idea of the varieties marketed. Most of the pepper sold in the market, generally comes from areas such as Foumbot (25.71%), Bangante (13.33%), Okola (8.57%), Mbouda (6.97%), Mfou (5.71%) and unknown origin (21.9 %). The pepper is taken out of their production areas without any varietal identity, due to negligence on the part of producers, who buy 30% of the seedlings from the market, or extract their own seeds (42.5%) without prior identification of the variety. This leads to the loss of the genetic resource, despite the presence of several marketing structures with several well-known varieties. The lack of proper characterization leads to erosion of the pepper plant genetic resources in Yaounde and its supply areas. Added to this is the lack of interest of sellers, the high price of seeds, and the extraction of seeds from fruits after a production season or the use of seeds from the market.

ABSTRACT
Sex determination is a process that leads to the physical separation of male and female gamete-producing structures to different individuals of a species. Sexual reproduction is an ancient feature of eukaryote life, yet the sexes as we currently recognize them are relative late comers in the evolution of sex. Sex determination systems in plants have evolved many times from hermaphroditic ancestors (including monoecious plants with separate male and female flowers on the same individual),and sex chromosome systems have arisen several times in flowering plant evolution. Sex chromosome evolution is intimately connected with Y chromosome degeneration. Most current understanding of how the distinctive properties of Y chromosomes evolved comes from theoretical work on the evolution of genomic regions with low recombination. The identification of sex chromosomes in plants is problematic because most of them do not differ morphologically from autosomes or from one another. For example in some species, such as Actinidia deliciosa var. deliciosa, X and Y chromosomes are too small to support observations of their distinguishing characteristics.) In the majority of plants, male and female organs are formed and developed simultaneously, but only up to a point when the growth of either set of sex organs is inhibited. Inhibition of sexual development can vary in character so that in most cases, sexual development is inhibited by the absence of cell division. In many species of bryophytes, heterothallism (unisexuality) has been correlated with the presence of sex chromosomes. Although the extent of heterothallism and sex chromosomes in the bryophytes has not been assessed systematically, this is the only known group of homosporous plants that uses sex chromosomes in sex determination. To date, studies of bryophyte sex determination have focused on the heterothallic liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. Many dioecious species, including those with well-developed sex chromosomes, ........

ABSTRACT
For an organized cross breeding program, information on heterotic grouping, perse performance, and commercial heterosis of newly introduced maize lines is required. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the heterotic group, commercial heterosis, perse and crosses mean performance of newly introduced from IITA-Nigeria and CIMMYT- Zimbabwe quality protein maize inbred lines. 36F1 progenies generated from the four testers and nine lines, and including four standard checks a total of 40 entries, and thirteen inbred lines were planted by using Alpha lattice design with three replications at Bako National Maize Research Center and Jimma Agricultural Research center in 2019/20 main cropping season. The combined analysis over the two locations showed there were significant differences at (P<0.01) or (P<0.05) between the genotypes in grain yield, and yield contributors of the studied traits. In this study, lines that showed positive SCA when crossed with tester A were assigned to the opposing heterotic group (group B), and vice versa, based on the significance of the SCA effects. This also suggests that these inbred lines could be placed in the same heterotic group as AB. From the study, L5 had the highest yield (3.6 t/ha) of the inbred lines, followed by L2 (3.13t/ha) and L7 (2.53t/ha) respectively were identified. Regarding to the crosses, Eight promising crosses, L2xT4, L3xT4, L4xT4, L5xT2, L6xT3, L7xT2, L9xT1, and L9xT4, with higher yield than the checks, were identified. For grain yield, about twelve crosses nine crosses showed positive and significant advantages over the standard check BH545 with range of (33.3% to-24.2%) were also observed. Multilocation evaluation, tryptophan and lysine content of these genotypes must be re-evaluated to confirm the findings of this study and to use in recurrent breeding program or for directly release of the promised crosses. In general, molecular based heterotic grouping is more effective in clarifying ............