Variation for fruit morphological characteristics in a Capsicum chinense Jacq. germplasm collection.

摘要

Mature fruits of 330 accessions of Capsicum chinense from the USDA/ARS Capsicum germplasm collection were characterized for fruit length, width, weight and colour. Mean fruit length was 47 mm (range = 7.9-113.7 mm), mean fruit width was 21.17 mm (range = 6.18-40.0 mm) and mean fruit wt. was 6.31 g (range = 0.18-22.7 g). Distributions of all characteristics were positively skewed. Distributions of fruit length, fruit wt. and fruit length/width failed the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality. Distribution for fruit width was normal. 92% of accessions examined were elongate. Mature fruit colours included red, orange, yellow, brown (chocolate) and cream. The germplasm collection contained primarily pendent larger-fruited cultivated forms, but also contained upright small-fruited primitive and semipendent transitional forms. Data define the variability for mature fruit characteristics within this germplasm collection and provide a baseline against which future introductions/acquisitions can be compared. Additional sampling of the gene pool might be expected to enhance genetic variability substantially.