title: Agronomic, chemical and genetic profiles of hot peppers (Capsicum annuum ssp.).
abstract: A study on morphology, productive yield, main quality parameters and genetic variability of eight landraces of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum ssp.) from Southern Italy has been performed. Morphological characters of berries and productivity values were evaluated by agronomic analyses. Chemical and genetic investigations were performed by HPLC and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR, respectively. In particular, carotenoid and capsaicinoid (pungency) contents were considered as main quality parameters of hot pepper. For the eight selected samples, genetic similarity values were calculated from the generated RAPD fragments and a dendrogram of genetic similarity was constructed. All the eight landraces exhibited characteristic RAPD patterns that allowed their characterization. Agro-morphological and chemical determinations were found to be adequate for selection, but they resulted useful only for plants grown in the same environmental conditions. RAPD application may provide a more reliable way based on DNA identification. The results of our study led to the identification of three noteworthy populations, suitable for processing, which fitted into different clusters of the dendrogram.
authors.affiliation: Stazione Sperimentale per le Industrie delle Essenze e dei Derivati dagli Agrumi (SSEA), Reggio Calabria, Italy. luigi.demasi@igv.cnr.it
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Masi
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Siviero
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Castaldo
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cautela
authors.forename: Castrese
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.forename: Bruna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Laratta
mesh_terms: D002211:Capsaicin / Q000032:analysis; D002212:Capsicum / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000032:analysis; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000032:analysis*; D005638:Fruit / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry / Q000254:growth & development; D014644:Genetic Variation; D007558:Italy; D010858:Pigmentation; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant; D002338:Carotenoids; D002211:Capsaicin