Capsicum chinense Jacq. is one of the preferred (hot) chilli species grown in the homesteads of Kerala. A wide range of variability exist in this species. Oleoresin, capsaicin, carotenoids and ascorbic acid are the important quality components in hot chilli. These varies greatly depending on species, geographical origin of the genotype and climatic conditions. Hot chilli is raised in the rainy (June – November) as well as summer (December – May) seasons. An experiment was conducted to evaluate selected genotypes of chilli during both the seasons for extraction of these essential components.

This experiment was conducted in two season viz., rainy (June-November) and summer (December-May) at the Department of Olericulture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram during 2002–03. The study was taken up on ten selected high yielding chilli genotypes namely, CC 23, CC 13, CC 7, CC 2, CC 15, CC 30, CC 28, CC 31, CC 3 and CC 11. The experiment was laid out in RBD with three replications. The plot size was 6.75 m² with 15 plants planted at 75 cm x 60 cm spacing. All operations were carried out as per package of practices recommended by the Kerala Agricultural University (Anon, 1). Five plants were selected randomly from each genotype and oleoresin, capsaicin, carotenoid and ascorbic acid were estimated in the fruits harvested at red ripe stage in two seasons.

Oleoresin was extracted in a Soxhlet's apparatus using acetone as solvent. Capsaicin content was estimated by Folin-Dennis method. Carotenoid was extracted using acetone and its optical density was measured at 450 nm in spectrophotometer (Jenson, 2). Ascorbic acid of fresh red ripe fruits were estimated by 2,6-dichloroindophenol dye method (Sadasivam and Manickam, 6).

Significant variation was observed among genotypes for oleoresin content during rainy and summer seasons (Table 1). The genotype CC 2 yielded the maximum oleoresin (19.43%) during rainy season and CC 28 yielded the maximum oleoresin (21.53%) during summer season. Minimum oleoresin was recorded by genotype CC 11 during rainy season and CC 30 during summer season. Oleoresin represents the total flavour extracts of ground chilli. Oleoresin showed an increase in summer season than in rainy season. This result is in agreement with Mini (5) who reported summer to be the best season for total oleoresin yield. Similarly significant variation was also observed for capsaicin content during rainy and summer seasons. The genotype CC 3 had the maximum capsaicin (3.18 and 3.58%) during rainy and summer seasons respectively. Genotype CC 23 recorded the minimum capsaicin during rainy and summer seasons. The data revealed that capsaicin synthesis is more during summer than in rainy season. Moisture stress and higher night temperature during summer might be responsible for the higher capsaicin content in fruits. Similar results were reported by Mahendran and Bandara (4).

Significant variation was observed among genotypes for carotenoid during rainy (0.18 to 0.41%) and summer (0.19 to 0.39%) seasons. The genotype CC 7 had the maximum carotenoids during rainy season while CC 15 had the maximum during summer season. Minimum carotenoids was recorded by genotype CC 31 during both seasons. In general, the pigments were higher during summer season. Laul et al. (3) also reported that the total colouring matter of dried chillies showed an increasing trend during summer season. A wide variation in ascorbic acid content was observed during different seasons. Ascorbic acid was maximum in genotype CC 7 during rainy and summer seasons. The minimum contents were recorded for genotype CC 11 during rainy and summer seasons. The genotypes recorded an increase in ascorbic acid during summer season. However, Mahendran and Bandara (4) reported that long term moisture deficits during the late vegetative, flowering, fruit setting and ripening stages delayed ascorbic acid synthesis and its recovery in chilli.

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