Morphological Characterization on accessions of Pepper (Capsicum annuum L. and Capsicum frutescens L.) cultivated in Nigeria

Abstract

Improved cultivars are developed by the breeders due to the variability in characters and availability of redundant diverse genotypes. Many pepper varieties exist in the cultivated land and waste sites in southwest Nigeria but very few had been recommended for breeding and crop improvement. This study was aimed to characterize accessions of pepper varieties from southwest Nigeria using morphological characters with a view to select genotypes with desirable morphological traits for breeding, crop improvement and hybridization. Thirty accessions were characterized using 45 morphological (27 qualitative and 18 quantitative) characters. Qualitative characters were recorded while quantitative characters were measured. Descriptive statistics, Principal component analysis (PCA), correlation coefficients and Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) were carried out using IBM SPSS software package 20.0 version. A wide diversity was observed and measured among pepper varieties on vegetative and reproductive morphological characters. Hence the following genotypes C. frutescens var. maxima (AOS009, AOS023, AOS033), C. annuum var. glabrisculum (AOS010, AOS036), C. frutescens var. baccatum (AOS038), C. frutescens var. chacoense (AOS028), C. frutescens var. minima (AOS040) and unknown variety (AOS019) were identified and are hereby suggested for hybridization and recommended to breeders for crop improvement.

Caracterización morfológica y proximal de introducciones de Capsicum chinense Jaqc. (Solanaceae) para uso en programas de mejoramiento genético

“…A su vez, Narez Jiménez et al [17], en diversas especies de Capsicum y Sunday et al [18], en C. annuum, encontraron que con sólo los tres primeros componentes, se explicó el mayor porcentaje de la variabilidad. Los descriptores de fruto presentaron mayor importancia, debido en conjunto a las prácticas tradicionales de cultivo, a la recombinación genética y a la selección natural [19].…”

“…En el presente estudio, las características cualitativas en el análisis de contribuciones permiten contemplar, para los tres países (Brasil, Colombia y México), un marcado agrupamiento con descriptores predominantes tales como, frutos en estado maduro e inmaduro, así como también flores y hojas. Frutos con ápice redondo, agudo o hendido incluso en una misma planta, así como frutos con pedúnculos con inclinación desde 0 hasta 90°, los cuales fueron observados en C. chinense, descripción que coincide con López y Castro [20], (1999) y con Martínez Sánchez et al [18] en C. annuum. Los descriptores evaluados en las introducciones de C. chinense provenientes de Brasil, Colombia y México, pueden ser considerados de herencia simple, como sugiere Mathiazhagan et al [22] y por lo tanto, empleados como marcadores morfológicos para introducciones de esta especie de Capsicum.…”

Morphological characterization of selected cayenne pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) accessions in southwest Nigeria

“…Morphological marker assessment was carried out visually through the observation of differences in appearance without specialized biochemical or molecular techniques, such markers include the relative difference in plant height and colour, distinct differences in response to abiotic and biotic stresses, and the presence/absence of other specific morphological characteristics. Although agronomical characterization provides useful information to users, these characteristics are normally subjected to environmental influences and must be assessed during a fixed vegetative phase of the crop (Oyelakin et. al., 2021).…”