Molecular and agronomic analysis of intraspecific variability in Capsicum baccatum var. pendulum accessions

Abstract

Capsicum baccatum is one of the most important chili peppers in South America, since this region is considered to be the center of origin and diversity of this species. In Brazil, C. baccatum has been widely explored by family farmers and there are different local names for each fruit phenotype, such as cambuci and dedo-de-moça (lady's finger). Although very popular among farmers and consumers, C. baccatum has been less extensively studied than other Capsicum species. This study describes the phenotypic and genotypic variability in C. baccatum var. pendulum accessions. Twenty-nine accessions from the Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro gene bank, and one commercial genotype ('BRS-Mari') were evaluated for 53 morphoagronomic descriptors (31 qualitative and 22 quantitative traits). In addition, accessions were genotyped using 30 microsatellite primers. Three accessions from the C. annuum complex were included in the molecular characterization. Nine of 31 qualitative descriptors were monomorphic, while all quantitative descriptors were highly significant different between accessions (P < 0.01). Using the unweighted pair group method using arithmetic averages, four groups were obtained based on multicategoric variables and five groups were obtained based on quantitative variables. In the genotyping analysis, 12 polymorphic simple sequence repeat primers amplified in C. baccatum with dissimilarity between accessions ranging from 0.13 to 0.91, permitting the formation of two distinct groups for Bayesian analysis. These results indicate wide variability among the accessions comparing phenotypic and genotypic data and revealed distinct patterns of dissimilarity between matrices, indicating that both steps are valuable for the characterization of C. baccatum var. pendulum accessions.

Genetic divergence between pepper accessions based on quantitative fruit traits

“…CIV, in turn, showed the highest values of VIT C (123.3 mg 100g -1 ) and FL (59.8 mm) (Table 4). Moura et al (2010) obtained mean values of VIT C similar to those found in this study, and verified the viability of using germplasm per se as a source of vitamin C. These two clusters together presented the highest values of important traits for industrial purposes such as production of sauces, paprika, and preserves, as mentioned by Faria et al (2013) and Leite et al (2016), in addition to cosmetic and pharmaceutical uses (Leite et al, 2016). Thus, accessions belonging to clusters CIII and CIV, accessions 2 and 3, are indicated for prospective studies aimed at the industrial market.…”

Biomorphological Characterization of Brazilian Capsicum Chinense Jacq. Germplasm

“…However, when comparing clusters formed by morpho-agronomic and molecular data, an agreement of 42%, considered low, was observed. Low correlation or even no correlation between morpho-agronomic and molecular data was reported in other studies [13,[65][66][67]. Molecular markers not related to the morphoagronomic traits evaluated used in the study should provide a plausible explanation for the absence or low correlation between formed clusters.…”

Research Article Genetic diversity among accessions of Capsicum annuum L. through morphoagronomic characters

“…The results show that the accessions behaved differently for each evaluated trait, which allows gain in the selection process. Leite et al (2016) and Martinez et al (2017) found genetic variability among accessions of C. baccatum to quantitative traits related to plant, flower and fruits. Neitzke et al (2010) reported divergence among genotypes for plant and fruit traits in pepper with ornamental potential.…”