Molecular diversity analysis of conserved &lt;i&gt;Capsicum chinense&lt;/i&gt; Jacq. germplasm in Sri Lanka

N H L D L D Nanayakkara Nanayakkara,K G C N Jayarathne,N M Ubeysekara,I P Wickremasinghe,S K Wasala

doi:10.4038/tar.v29i2.8291

Abstract

Among the Capsicum species, Capsicum chinense has the highest pungency, the highest antioxidant activity and a wide genetic diversity. This study was conducted to evaluate the genetic diversity of C. chinense (Nai miris) germplasm conserved at the Plant Genetic Resources Centre, Gannoruwa, Sri Lanka. Twenty five C .chinense germplasm, two C. annuum, two C. frutescens and one C. baccatum were analysed using 27 Simple Sequence Repeat markers. Total number of amplified alleles was 108 which varied from 1 to 6 per locus. The mean polymorphism information content value was 0.46. Dendogram based on Nei’s genetic distances showed three main clusters where 88% of C. chinense germplasm was grouped into one cluster and C. annuum and C. frutescens were separated into two clusters. A high genetic diversity was observed within C. chinense cluster. The genetic diversity identified in this study will be useful for correct identification, conservation and breeding activities of Capsicum species.

Highlights

Chilli (Capsicum spp.) is one of the major spice crops all over the world
A total of 30 Capsicum accessions including 25 C. chinense accessions, two C. annuum accessions, two C. frutescens accessions and one C. baccatum accession were obtained from Plant Genetic Resources Center (PGRC), Gannoruwa, Sri Lanka were used for this study (Table 1)
The present study revealed that there is a high genetic diversity among selected Capsicum species and within the tested C. chinense germplasm

Summary

Introduction

Chilli (Capsicum spp.) is one of the major spice crops all over the world. It is daily consumed by one quarter of the world’s population, and the rate of consumption is ever growing. Chilli accounts for 16% of the total spice trade in the world, occupying the second position after black pepper (FAOSTAT, 2013). C. chinense and C. frutescens species have special characteristics such as resistant to pest and disease incidences, high pungency and resistant to drought conditions (Kannangara, 2013). C. chinense, known as hot chilli or hot pepper is the hottest species among the Capsicum species which has Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) score over 1.5 million, having the uppermost

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Conclusion