Evaluation of sweet pepper cultivars and breeding lines for chemical and sensory quality

Pepper is well known for the high content of bioactive compounds and strong antioxidant capacity formed by vitamins, carotenoids, flavonoids and polyphenols. Twenty nine pepper genotypes of different colours and shapes were studied during 2018-2020 period at the Maritsa VCRI. They were analyzed by basic chemical components (dry matter, total sugars, ascorbic acid, total pigments) and sensory traits. A genotype assessment toward above mentioned characters was established. The genotype factor had the greatest influence on the dry matter of the conical and kapia types; on the ascorbic acid and ASTA units of the cultivars and breeding lines with red-colored fruits (kapia and ratund); on the total sugars of all studied types. A strong negative correlation was found between the total sensory evaluation and the dry matter content of green pepper fruits from the conical type (r = -0.908**). The correlation between the total sensory assessment and the total sugar content of the green pepper fruits of the conical type was significant (r = 0.857*) and strongly positive for the blocky and bell ones (r = 0.958**). Based on the experiment, appropriate genotypes were selected as perspective lines or parental components in the breeding of high quality pepper varieties.