Influence of maturity at harvest on capsaicin and ascorbic acid content in hot chilli (Capsicum chinense Jacq.)

2004

The number 23, 2004 maybe missing, so foreign request with STPI

REP.PP-0648

In an experiment conducted during 2002-03, in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, 5 plants were selected randomly from each of the 10 high-yielding hot chilli genotypes, and their capsaicin and ascorbic acid contents were estimated at 3 stages of maturity, i.e. colour changing stage (when mature fruits just start changing their colour from green to intermediate stage), red ripe stage (when fruits become fully ripe, firm and succulent in nature) and withering stage (when fully ripe fruits become shrivelled). Capsaicin content was estimated by the Folin-Dennis method, while ascorbic acid content was estimated by 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol dye method. Analysis of variance for capsaicin and ascorbic acid content over different maturity stages showed that maturity x genotype interaction was significant. Significant variation was observed among genotypes for capsaicin content at the colour changing (1.26 to 3.02%), red ripe (1.32 to 3.18%) and withering stages (1.48 to 3.36%), with the genotype CC3 giving the highest contents at all stages. Similarly, significant variation was observed among genotypes for ascorbic acid content at the colour changing (89.40 to 130.12 mg/100 g fresh fruit), red ripe (95.23 to 136.45 mg/100 g fresh fruit) and withering stages (89.26 to 136.59 mg/100 g fresh fruit), with the genotype CC 7 giving the highest contents at all stages. In general, genotypes had the highest capsaicin content at the withering stage and the highest ascorbic acid content at the red ripe stage.

no.23:13-16, CAPSICUM & EGGPLANT NEWSLETTER

Research > Published Articles