Patterns of phenotypic variation in a germplasm collection of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) from Turkey

Abstract

Phenotypic diversity was assessed for quantitative and qualitative traits in a collection of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) germplasm from different areas of Turkey. A total of 48 genotypes, including germplasm lines and commercial cultivars, were studied under field conditions at Izmir over two consecutive summers (2004 and 2005). All accessions were characterized for 67 agro-morphological traits from seedling emergence to crop maturity. Morphological data were subjected to principal components analysis followed by hierarchical agglomerative clustering. This provided seven groups based on morphological and agronomic properties. The first six principal components axes accounted for 54.29% of the variance among the 48 accessions and their lines. The greater part of variance was accounted for by traits such as fruit diameter, fruit weight, volume, fruit wall thickness, fruit productivity, and fruit soluble solid and dry matter content. The high diversity found in the collection showed its great potential for improving agronomic traits in pepper.