Mapping of chili varieties by vitamin C levels

Abstract

One of the secondary metabolites produced by chili peppers is ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid, better known as vitamin C, is a supplement that is widely consumed by humans. The study aims to map 37 varieties of chili peppers, consisting of 19 varieties of big chilies, 10 varieties of curly chilies and 8 varieties of cayenne peppers based on vitamin C levels. The chili peppers under study were planted at Lembang, West Java in March and harvested in August 2020. Measurements of vitamin C levels were conducted using the HPLC method. Vitamin C level data were mapped using the PAST 3.1 statistics program. The study succeeded in mapping chili varieties based on vitamin C levels to very low (2 varieties), low (10 varieties), medium (11 varieties), high (13 varieties), and very high (1 variety) categories. Big chili vitamin C levels ranged from 77.4 to 158.3 and averaged 122.7, curly chili vitamin C levels ranged from 92.9 to 168.0 and averaged of 137.5, and cayenne peppers vitamin C levels ranged from 45.6 to 144,9 with and averaged 92.2. The research showed that curly chilies had higher levels of vitamin C than big chilies and cayenne peppers.