Nutritional Value of New Sweet Pepper Genotypes Grown in Organic System

Abstract

The market request for organic vegetables has grown recently for their positive impact on healthy diets. Consumers have progressively shown preferences for various combinations of color, size, and shape of pepper fruits. Facilitating communication, collaboration, and participation in the selection of cultivars with superior performance, flavor, texture, and culinary attributes can represent a key tool in breeding for nutritional and culinary traits. The current research started from the premise that organic production involves achieving adequate nutritional and culinary quality of pepper fruits. The study was conducted to investigate traits related culinary quality of pepper genotypes, especially in the ripening phase of fruits, to select the best resources with a high antioxidant content for breeding programs. The biological material represented by nine genotypes of sweet pepper was cultivated in the open fields during 2019 and 2020 at the experimental stations of the Vegetable Research Development Station of Bacau and of Iasi University of Life Sciences. Agricultural practices and intensive breeding focused on yield and stress tolerance have indirectly led to a reduction in the nutrition and flavor of the produce. Complex approaches, including screening of consumer preferences, phenotyping, and use of modern genomics and analytical chemistry tools in breeding, together with participatory farmer-breeder-chef-consumer collaborations, can represent a strategy to facilitate the development of the next generation of crops aimed to meet the growing demands of safe and nutritionally vegetables featured by culinary standards as good flavor, color, and texture.

Effects of Seed Priming on Mitigating the Negative Effects of Increased Salinity in Two Varieties of Sweet Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

“…Sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is the third most important crop from the Solonaceae family (after tomato and potato) with differently colored fruits ranging from yellow, orange, red, purple, and brown [12]. Peppers are usually grown in greenhouses where constant irrigation is required to ensure optimum water availability.…”

Microbial-based biological treatments improved the nutritional, nutraceutical and functional properties of greenhouse sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

“…It is considered worldwide as an important vegetable plant with high nutritional value, mainly used for fresh consumption, cooking, and processing (Krasnow and Ziv, 2022). In addition, this crop is used in food and cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, as well as nutraceuticals and has beneficial impact on human health (Murariu et al, 2019;Brezeanu et al, 2022). These beneficial effects of sweet peppers on human health are attributed to the high concentration of ascorbic acid, carotenoids, tocopherols, and phenolic compounds that scavenge free radicals and protect against oxidative damage (Sreeramulu and Raghunath, 2010;Chen and Kang, 2013;Brezeanu et al, 2022).…”

“…In addition, this crop is used in food and cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, as well as nutraceuticals and has beneficial impact on human health (Murariu et al, 2019;Brezeanu et al, 2022). These beneficial effects of sweet peppers on human health are attributed to the high concentration of ascorbic acid, carotenoids, tocopherols, and phenolic compounds that scavenge free radicals and protect against oxidative damage (Sreeramulu and Raghunath, 2010;Chen and Kang, 2013;Brezeanu et al, 2022). Greenhouse crops have a high commercial value due to production costs.…”

“…However, due to the contamination of water, air, and soil, the increased use of these chemical inputs can pose a significant risk to the environment. These agents can also lead to resistance in insects and pathogens, reduce populations of beneficial insects, contribute to high greenhouse gas emissions and incur high costs (Arias-Estevez et al, 2008;Alvarez et al, 2017;Brezeanu et al, 2022). Due to the environmental and health risks associated with the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture, the production and consumption of safe products have become a practical alternative that attracted the attention of investors in the agricultural sector worldwide (Mishra et al, 2013).…”

Enhancing the nutritional value of sweet pepper through sustainable fertilization management

“…In addition to their nutritional value, peppers also contain carotenoids, flavonoids, and phenolic acids, that have been shown to have various biological activities, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties ( 3 , 7 ). As in the case of nutritional value, the levels of these compounds can vary among cultivars and can be influenced by environmental factors and cultivation practices such as fertilization ( 8 , 9 ). Fertilization is a critical component of modern agricultural practices, and the use of different types of fertilizers can significantly affect the production and quality of sweet peppers.…”