The Effect of the Varietal Type, Ripening Stage, and Growing Conditions on the Content and Profile of Sugars and Capsaicinoids in Capsicum Peppers

Abstract

Peppers (Capsicum sp.) are used both as vegetables and/or spice and their fruits are used in a plethora of recipes, contributing to their flavor and aroma. Among flavor-related traits, pungency (capsaicinoids) and lately volatiles have been considered the most important factors. However, the knowledge of sugars is low, probably due to the fact peppers were historically considered tasteless. Here, using HPLC, we studied the content and profile of major sugars and capsaicinoids in a comprehensive collection of varietal types (genotype, G), grown under different growing systems (environment, E) in two years (Y) and considered the two main ripening stages (R). We found a major contribution to the ripening stage and the genotype in total and individual sugars and capsaicinoids. The year was also significant in most cases, as well as the G × E and G × Y interactions, while the growing system was low or nil. Ripening increased considerably in sugars (from 19.6 to 36.1 g kg−1 on average) and capsaicinoids (from 97 to 142 mg kg−1 on average), with remarkable differences among varieties. Moreover, sugars in fully ripe fruits ranged between 7.5 and 38.5 g kg−1 in glucose and between 5.2 and 34.3 g kg−1 in fructose, and several accessions reached total sugars between 40 and 70 g kg−1, similar to tomatoes. The results reveal the importance of the genotype and the ripening for these traits, particularly sugars, which should be considered key for the improvement of taste and flavor in peppers.

Effect of Varieties, Solar Drying and Zeer Pot Refrigeration Lining Media on Physico – Chemical Characteristics of Chili Pepper Fruits

“…The increased in total soluble solids in red cayenne as observed could be attributed to the genotype and the ripening stage of red cayenne fruits [30,31]. Red cayenne has better taste (sweetness) than scotch bonnet [32].…”

“…The increased in titratable acidity in scotch bonnet could be as a result of genotype and the ripening stage of scotch bonnet [30,31]. The scotch bonnet fruits had better genotype tissue that retained titratable acidity and harvested at mature stage where titratable acidity was high, hence, scotch bonnet had better sourness -taste in chili pepper fruits [33].…”

“…The increased in pH in scotch bonnet could be related to the genotype and the ripening stage of scotch bonnet [30,31]. pH value could prevent microbial growth in food [34].…”

Characterization of leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) activity in sweet pepper fruits during ripening and its inhibition by nitration and reducing events

“…On the contrary, the ripening process of pepper fruits involves many changes at the phenotypic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic levels, and its big genome size, in comparison to other Solanaceae, makes its analysis complex (Dyachenko et al 2020 ; Razo-Mendivil et al 2021 ; Esposito et al 2022 ; Kovács et al 2022 ; Del Giúdice et al 2023 ). Recently, “omic” approaches have been carried out to study specific aspects of the ripening process (Chiaiese et al 2019 ; Dubey et al 2019 ; Zuo et al 2019 ; Lopez-Ortiz et al 2021 ; Rödiger et al 2021 ; Momo et al 2022 ; Villa-Rivera et al 2022 ; Song et al 2022 ; Liu et al 2023 ; Wang et al 2024 ) which are dependent on the variety, environmental growth conditions, fruit position, and ripening stage (Ribes-Moya et al 2020 ; Jang et al 2022 ; Lahbib et al 2023 ; Guijarro-Real et al 2023 ; Islam et al 2023 ). Despite the increase in information on the ripening of pepper fruits, to our knowledge, there is no data on the LAP in this process.…”

Genetic Regulation, Environmental Cues, and Extraction Methods for Higher Yield of Secondary Metabolites in Capsicum

“…The harvesting stage contributes greatly toward the concentration of capsaicinoids as reflected in the increase of capsaicinoids from 97 to 142 mg kg –1 as the ripening progresses in Capsicum fruits . The total capsaicinoid levels in the cayenne pepper were greatest at the mature unripe stage, then decrease at the half-ripe stage, and finally increase to a maximum at the mature ripe stage reflecting the concerted effects of the synthesis, accumulation, transport, storage, and degradation of these bioactive compounds .…”