Morphologic characterization and genetic diversity of Capsicum chinense Jacq. accessions along the upper Rio Negro – Amazonas
Rogério Ritzinger, Walter dos Santos Soares Filho and Paulo César Lemos de Carvalho
Abstract: The umbu-caja is a tree native to the Northeastern region of Brazil, with promising perspectives of economic use. Aiming to detect variability in the species, 43 umbu-caja genotypes were identified in 14 counties of the state of Bahia, Brazil. Fruits of these genotypes were collected for physical, chemical and physico-chemical analysis. The range of variation of all analyzed traits was large. Among genotypes, there was, however, predominance of pear-shaped to slightly pear-shaped fruits, fruit weight ranging from 15 g to 27 g, pulp/seed index around 2.0, total titratable acidity between 1.5 and 2.6%, total soluble solids between 9.0° and 14.0° Brix, and vitamin C content ranging from 3.6 to 16.4 mg ascorbic acid 100g pulp. The presence of seeds in genotypes ranged from 5 to 100 % of fruits without seeds.