Capsicum fruits contain a newly discovered phytochemical called capsinoids. Because little is known about the quantities of these compounds in both sweet and pungent pepper fruits, a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed to identify and quantify the capsinoids (naturally present E-capsiate and dihydrocapsiate) utilizing fruit obtained from a variety of Capsicum spp. in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Capsicum germplasm collection. Capsinoids were extracted with acetonitrile, filtered, and analyzed using an HPLC system equipped with a C(18) monolithic column, gradient pump, and diode array detector. The elution solvents were acetonitrile and water (60:40) with an isocratic flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. Forty-nine samples representing distinct morphotypes of four cultivated species ( C. annuum var. annuum, C. annuum var. glabriusculum, C. baccatum , C. chinense , and C. frutescens ) contained detectable levels (11-369 microg/g) of E-capsiate quantified at a wavelength of 280 nm. Nine of the E-capsiate-containing samples also had dihydrocapsiate (18-86 micro/g). Gas chromatography with a mass spectrometry detector (GC-MS) confirmed the presence of these compounds in the Capsicum spp.

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Field experiments were conducted in open top chamber during rabi seasons of 2009-10 and 2010-11 at the research farm of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi to study the effect of tropospheric ozone (O3) and carbon dioxide (CO2) interaction on yield and nutritional quality of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern.). Mustard plants were grown from emergence to maturity under different treatments: charcoal-filtered air (CF, 80-85 % less O3 than ambient O3 and ambient CO2), nonfiltered air (NF, 5-10 % less O3 than ambient O3 and ambient CO2 ), nonfiltered air with elevated carbon dioxide (NF + CO2, NF air and 550 ± 50 ppm CO2), elevated ozone (EO, NF air and 25-35 ppb elevated O3), elevated ozone along with elevated carbon dioxide (EO + CO2, NF air, 25-35 ppb O3 and 550 ± 50 ppm CO2), and ambient chamber less control (AC, ambient O3 and CO2). Elevated O3 exposure led to reduced photosynthesis and leaf area index resulting in decreased seed yield of mustard. Elevated ozone significantly decreased the oil and micronutrient content in mustard. Thirteen to 17 ppm hour O3 exposure (accumulated over threshold of 40 ppm, AOT 40) reduced the oil content by 18-20 %. Elevated CO2 (500 ± 50 ppm) along with EO was able to counter the decline in oil content in the seed, and it increased by 11 to 13 % over EO alone. Elevated CO2, however, decreased protein, calcium, zinc, iron, magnesium, and sulfur content in seed as compared to the nonfiltered control, whereas removal of O3 from air in the charcoal-filtered treatment resulted in a significant increase in the same.

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