Scientist crossbreeds umorok and mashingkha

Kishor’s Fire Ball claims to be hottest Indian artificial hybrid chilly

By A Staff Reporter

IMPHAL | Jan 4

Imphal scientist Rajkumar Kishor has introduced “Kishore’s Fire Ball”, “hottest” Indian artificial hybrid chilly by crossbreeding two local hottest chillies Capsicum frutescens cultivar (Mashingkha) and Capsicum chinense cultivar (Umorok).

The new chilly is named after the scientist’s name Kishor who is also the managing director and chief scientist of  Kwaklei and Khonggunmelei Orchids Pvt. Ltd.

“Kishor’s Fire Ball” possesses the characteristic of hottest Indian artificial hybrid chilli pepper is believed to enhance its familiarity once again among the hot chillies found in the North East.

Kishor said of the two chillies crossed Mashingkha and Umorok, the latter needs lot of care as it grows wild. Mashingkha has an average pungency of 107200 SHU (Scoville Heat Unit) with 0.67% of capsicum content while Umorok has 280000 SHU with 1.75% of capsicum content. But after hybridisation the hotness and capsicum content of the chilli hikes to an average of 287400 SHU and 1.80% respectively.

Citing the required duration that takes to reach its genetic stability Kishore said “normally it takes 10 years to reach the level of genetic stability of this hybridised product, so the breeding trail was conducted in 2007. And analyses of the sample had performed at the analytical laboratory of spices board of Cochin. Now it is ready for field trial.”

Talking on the advantages of planting this hybridised chilly as “it is resistant to disease as well as high yielding. It can be cultivated in open spaces where sunlight can be directly heated”. It bears fruits twice a year without using much fertilizer, pesticides and insecticides, and advantageous to the farmers, he added.

The Kishor’s Fire Ball weighs 1.5-2 gm. It can grow up to 5 feet high and size of fruit is 2.5-5 x 1.5-2 cm which is slightly curled. The relatively thicker skinned green fruits turned red on maturity, he stated.

Kishore said “hybridisation of chilli is also being done in various part of India and it is not a new thing too. But the quality possess by this newly launched hybrid chilli is very different from other hybrid chilli.”