Phenotypic and Molecular Characterization of Brazilian Capsicum Germplasm

Abstract

Population growth and the high demand for food production has caused environmental degradation losses in biodiversity. The conservation of genetic resources is the most appropriate strategy for maintaining the variability of species of great importance, such as Capsicum. In this study, we describe the characterization of 69 pepper accessions of four Capsicum species from different regions of Brazil on the basis of qualitative and quantitative descriptors and ISSR markers. The 11 quantitative descriptors grouped the 69 populations into five clades. The fruit traits had the greater discrimination power. A strong correlation was detected between some pairs of quantitative descriptors: petiole and fruit length, fruit diameter and fresh fruit mass, leaf length and leaf width, canopy and plant height, stem diameter and plant height, stem diameter and canopy diameter. A negative correlation was also observed between plant height and pericarp thickness. Moreover, the molecular analysis grouped accessions into five clades. The morpho-agronomic and molecular characterization were efficient to estimate the genetic diversity between accessions, being important tools for the knowledge and use of accessions. This study is of great importance to preserve pepper germplasm and to provide data to facilitate the process of the selection in breeding programs.

Monograph of wild and cultivated chili peppers (Capsicum L., Solanaceae)

“…Morphoagronomic and molecular characterisation studies have been carried out on many accessions of C. frutescens from different germplasm banks ( Carvalho et al 2017 ; Tripodi and Greco 2018 ; Brilhante et al 2021 ), as well as on commercial crops ( Peñuela et al 2020 ), with differing results as to the most useful morphological diagnostic descriptors for the species. Carvalho et al (2017) identified three morphological patterns of fruits: malagueta type (the most common type with detailed characterisation), Tabasco type and malaquetinha type, based on qualitative and quantitative morphological descriptors and SSR markers in 103 accessions of C. frutescens from Brazil.…”

Specialty Crop Germplasm and Public Breeding Efforts in the United States

“…They identified genetic clusters that accounted for most of the variation observed and concluded that current germplasm collections have captured most extant diversity. Later, Brilhante et al [43] described the use of qualitative and quantitative descriptors and ISSR markers to characterize 69 pepper accessions of four Capsicum species from different regions of Brazil. In another study, morphological measures of genetic variability in Chilean Capsicum germplasm showed that the values of central tendency and dispersion showed variation coefficients greater than 25% for fruit quantitative descriptors [44].…”