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BACKGROUND The consumers' perception of the importance of healthy food has promoted the interest towards fruit, vegetables and spices rich in antioxidants. Moreover, changing in eating habits has encouraged the diffusion of ready‐to‐eat commodities with specific merceological standards. In the present study, 12 hot pepper varieties devoted to powder production, canned processing, blister packaging have been evaluated for morpho‐agronomic traits and bioactive compounds in replicated trials in three locations and two growing seasons. RESULTS For all traits, the genotypic component (G) and the genotype × location interaction (G×L) were significant (P < 0.05). Morphological fruit traits evidenced a strong effect of the genotype (> 95%) while yield and biochemical traits showed a variable response to environmental effects. Capsaicin and the yellow fraction of carotenoids were the only nutraceutical compounds showing a relatively high G effect, contrariwise, ascorbic acid, carotenoids and tocopherols were more influenced by location (L) and year of cultivation (Y). Results showed how breeding for quality traits in chilli is still challenging. Multivariate analysis allowed to identify pairs of traits distinguishing the different market typologies: powder types exhibited a lower productivity and higher pungency while those for blister packaging had a remarkable antioxidant capacity. CONCLUSIONS A comprehensive approach was used to study the plasticity of agronomic and nutritional traits in chilli pepper. The set of cultivars analysed produced fruits with considerable levels of several health‐related metabolites, including capsaicin, carotenoids and antioxidant phytochemicals. This information is useful for precision breeding of novel varieties. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

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