463 J Food Sci Technol, 2008, 45(5), 463–465 SHORT COMMUNICATION Evaluation of chilli (Capsicum annuum L) genotypes for some quality traits Pandey Jyoti*, Singh Jagdish, Verma Ajay, Singh AK 1 , Rai Mathura, Kumar Sanjeet 2 Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, PO Box 5002, BHU, Varanasi-221 005, India 1 Department of Botany, Udai Pratap Autonomous College, Varanasi-221 002, India 2 Vegetable Breeder, ICRISAT Sahalian Center, BP-12404, Niamey (via Peris), Niger, India *E-mail:pandey_jyoti123@yahoo.com Twenty-one genotypes of chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) were evaluated for capsaicin, oleoresin, extractable colour and colour value during 2002-2003 and 2004-2005 to identify genotypes with less capsaicin and high colour content. Significant differences (p<0.05) were recorded within the genotypes during both the seasons for the quality parameters. The capsaicin content during 2 seasons ranged from 0.18 to 2.01%. The oleoresin content varied from 9.0 to 21.8%. The extractable colour ranged from 53.3 to 346.0 ASTA and the colour value ranged from 20790 to 139590 c.u. The genotype ‘PBC-535’ was identified with less pungency and high colour content. Multivariate cluster analysis based on Ward’s method showed that the genotypes were mainly divided at the first node into 2 clusters with 12 and 9 genotypes, which were further sub divided into 2 groups. Keywords: Chilli genotypes, Capsaicin, Oleoresin, Extractable colour, Colour value Chilli, a member of Solanaceae, is a popular crop of New World origin and is one of the most widely cultivated crops throughout the world. Among the five cultivated species of the Capsicum genus Capsicum annuum L. is the most widely cultivated species. Chilli fruit known for its pungency, which is because of capsaicinoids, is a group of 15 different alkaloids (Bosland and Votava 2000). Among these alkaloids, capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin are the major alkaloids that contribute up to 80% of the total capsaicinoids. Red colour in chilli is mainly due to the pigments, capsanthin and capsorubin. Among the carotenoids that have been found in chilli, capsanthin contributes to about 60% (Bosland 1996). Paprika is a type of chilli with less pun- gency and high colour content (Mathew et al 2000). Concentrated oleoresin is being utilized in the food processing industry, especially in meat industry to impart at- tractive colour (Kumar et al 2006). Oleo- resins are mixed with chicken feed to impart attractive red colour to chicken skin and red colour to yolk (Mathew et al 2000). India needs to produce more than 20,000 of paprika chilli (non-pungent) to meet the demand of paprika industries (Mathew et al 2000). Colour value is the principal criterion to assess the quality of paprika. Hence, in this study chilli germplasm lines including improved popu- lation and in-breds were screened for capsaicin and oleoresin contents to iden- tify the genotypes with low capsaicin and high oleoresin and vice versa. The former type of genotypes will be utilized for oleoresin extraction, whereas, the latter type can be exploited in pharmaceutical industry and for preparation of capsaicin spray. This study was carried out at the Experimental Farm of Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR), Varanasi during 2002-05. Seeds of 21 germplasm lines as listed in Table 1 of chilli (Cap- sicum annuum)were sown in nursery beds during July 2002-June 2004. Thirty days old seedlings of all the genotypes were transplanted to the field in randomized block design in 3 replications at 60x45 cm distance. There were 20 plants per plot and 2 plots per replication. Plot size was 4.3x3 m. Red ripe fruits from each genotype were harvested in February during the first year and in November during the second year. Capsaicin content in chilli powder was estimated spectro- photometrically following the method of Thimmaiah (1999). Oleoresin was esti- mated as suggested by Mathew et al (1971). Extractable colour and colour value were determined according to AOAC (1995) procedure. All the above analyses were per- formed in triplicate. Data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using standard statistical methods. Means were tested with Duncan’s multiple range test (p≤0.05) (Panse and Sukhatme 1978). Results are presented in Table 1. During both seasons, the maximum cap- saicin was recorded in ‘BS-35’ (1.5 and 2.0%), whereas minimum capsaicin was in ‘PBC-535’ (0.18 and 0.22%). Our results are in agreement to earlier studies. Bajaj et al (1980) reported a range of 0.34 to 0.95%, whereas, Kumar et al (2003) reported a range of 0.3-0.49%. Singh et al (2003) reported a variation of 0.3-0.7% for capsaicin in chilli genotypes. Expression of capsaicin during 2 seasons varied greatly between the genotypes and also within the genotypes. For example, ‘BS-35’ had different levels (1.5% vs. 2.0%) of capsaicin expression during the to seasons. The variation in the expres- sion of the pungency during the seasons may be because of the difference in the harvesting stage (maturity) of fruits. Dur- ing 2002-03 red ripe fruits were collected in February, whereas, during 2004-05 fruits were collected during November 2005. Iwai et at (1979) reported that capsaicinoid production increases with the fruit maturity and reaches to maximum and then decreases by rapid turnover and degradation up to 60%. In an earlier study by Contreras and Yahia (1998) it was concluded that, capsacinoids progressively accumulated during the development of the fruit until a maximum and then started to decrease gradually. Capsacinoid con- centration was significantly different in all stages of development. Accumulation of capsaicin was reported to occur over a relative short period during fruit devel- opment (Iwai et al 1979, Salgado-Garciglia and Ochoa-Alejo 1990). The result of this