Proceedings of the XLV Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics - SIGA Annual Congress

Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy - 26/29 September, 2001

ISBN 88-900622-1-5

Poster Abstract

CHEMICAL CHARACTERISATION OF A GERMPLASM COLLECTION OF CAPSICUM L. SPP.

PERRINO P.*, BASER N.**, DELLA GATTA C.***, LAGHETTI G.*

* Istituto del Germoplasma, C.N.R., Bari, Italy

germplasm@area.ba.cnr.it

** Scientific collaborator c/o the Istituto del Germoplasma, C.N.R., Bari, Italy

*** Dipartimento di Biologia e Chimica Agro-forestale ed Ambientale, Bari, Italy

characterisation, capsaicin, carotenoid pigments, germplasm collection, Capsicum L.

Capsicum spp. are commonly cultivated in Italy, especially in the Southern Italian regions, and have a great economic importance, second only to tomato. They can be used as food, natural colorants, and conservancy of food, and can have medical application. A collection of nearly two hundreds accessions of Capsicum spp. has been collected throughout the world, stored in our Institute and never previously characterized. An investigation has been initiated for the detection of the variability of such a collection in its qualitative biochemical determinants such as color of fruits, given by carotenoid pigments, and capsaicin, which confers the characteristic pungency to fruits and seeds. Pigments and capsaicin content of over one hundred accessions has been evaluated by means of spectroscopic measurements. Most of the accessions showed a very low amount of capsaicin, expressed as mg capsaicin /g dry weight of plant tissue, either in fruits or in seeds. Few accessions contained intermediate levels of capsaicin, whilst a relatively consistent number of them contained the highest amounts. Capsaicin content of seeds were lower than that of fruits. The pigment content of the accessions was distributed according to a Gaussian curve with most of the standardized classes falling into intermediate values which ranged between 3 and 6 g total color/kg dry weight or between 100 and 175 ASTA units/g dry weight of fruits. Generally, the amount of yellow pigments was much lower than that of red pigments in most of the accessions tested. A low variability in the content of the pungent determinants was observed among the accessions of the collection. Highest values in capsaicin content were found in all 3 available accessions from China, in 50% of the accessions from Albania and 20% from Italy. All the accessions were characterized by a low content of yellow pigments; conversely, red pigments were highly variably distributed among the accessions. The majority of accessions from North Africa had highest color content whilst highly colored accessions from European countries were much less frequent.