Mineral Content in Capsicum Pepper Landraces: Effect of the Genotype and the Ripening Stage

Abstract

[EN] Capsicum peppers are one of the most important vegetables and a plethora of cultivars can be found within common pepper, C. annuum. In this regard, Spain is a center of diversity for this crop. Many studies on bioactive compounds have been done in peppers, although very little is known about their mineral content. In the present work fruits from a comprehensive collection of Capsicum accessions, mostly C. annuum landraces, were grown in open field in Valencia (Spain) and evaluated at both unripe and fully ripe stages for their content in several minerals: P, K, Ca, Mg and Fe. The effects of the genotype, fruit ripening stage, and the genotype×ripening stage were studied. A wide genotypic diversity was found for minerals. Thus, the difference between the lowest and highest genotype means was about twice in both ripening stages for P, Ca, and Mg and for K in fully ripe fruits. Finally, Fe levels were 0.7-3.1% in unripe fruits and 1.07-5.1% in fully ripe fruits. Our results indicate that C. annuum fruits are a good source of K, particularly when unripe. With very few exceptions, P, K and particularly Ca decreased on average and in most genotypes with the ripening process. By contrast, Mg showed a strong genotype×stage interaction. Here we found a wide diversity among C. annuum genotypes for the content in most minerals, particularly in P, Ca and Mg, as well as high levels of K. Moreover, unripe fruits usually show higher levels of these minerals than fully ripe fruits.