Abstract
The species belonging to the genus Capsicum have been widely used as decorative vegetables, however only a few genotypes are available for this purpose. The goal of the present work was the agro-morphological characterization of several chili pepper accessions cultivated into different pot sizes (10, 14, 18 or 20 cm diameters). The agro-morphological characterization of 19 accessions was performed following IPGR (International Plant Genetic Resources Institute) descriptors: plant height (PH), plant canopy width (PCW), PH/PCW ratio, plant growth habit, plant visual quality, first flower emission, fruiting start, end of harvest, fruit number, fruit length, fruit width, fruit color at mature stage and fruit shape. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for all observed traits showed statistical significant differences among the genotypes tested. Results of the heat map complementarily secured the frequency of multiplicity highlighted from the ANOVA analysis. Furthermore, the present study pointed out that A33, A27, G1 and A1 chili pepper accessions achieved optimal performances in terms of plant visual quality, which is a crucial trait for ornamental purposes.
Highlights
Chili pepper (Capsicum spp.) is a Solanaceous crop cultivated and appreciated all over the world
Chili pepper is an important vegetable, mostly for its fruit nutritional and functional features such as capsaicinoids, carotenoids, antioxidant vitamins and phenolic constituents; hot pepper fruits are used as food coloring and flavoring [2]
Our data revealed different yield traits among the accessions tested. This finding is in accordance with that obtained by Hosamani [26], Rodríguez et al [27], Manyasa et al [28] and Sharma et al [22], who, by conducting a morphological and agronomical characterization of vegetables belonging to the Capsicum genera, found high coefficients of variation for fruit mass (22.2%) and number of fruits per plant (36.3%)
Summary
Chili pepper (Capsicum spp.) is a Solanaceous crop cultivated and appreciated all over the world. Chili pepper is an important vegetable, mostly for its fruit nutritional and functional features such as capsaicinoids, carotenoids, antioxidant vitamins and phenolic constituents; hot pepper fruits are used as food coloring and flavoring [2]. Chili pepper consumption is primarily due to its spicy taste and flavor which derives from the capsaicinoids synthesis (capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin). As reported by Iqbal et al [5], the quantitative and qualitative traits of chili pepper fruit are linked up with genotype, maturity stage and growth cultivation conditions. Among the above mentioned Capsicum ssp, C. annum is the species most often grown as an ornamental.
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