Abstract:

The characterization of plant genetic resources and genetic diversity levels are determined with the morphological descriptors and molecular analysis methods. Capsicum chinense populations show a high level of variation in terms of fruit size, fruit width, fruit shape, fruit colour and bitterness. This study aimed to define the plant characteristics of the C. chinense genetic resources collected from different locations of the world according to the UPOV (International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants) criteria and to determine the morphological variation levels in the current population within the species. In the first stage of this study, a gene pool consisting of 75 genotypes of the C. chinenses pecies was created. It was found that genotypes belonging to the C. chinense species show a high level of phenotypic diversity in terms of morphological identification criteria. Cluster and principal component analysis (PCA) were performed to determine relationships among populations. A dendrogram clustered into seven groups was prepared to evaluate morphological differences among C. chinense genotypes. In addition, the principal component (PC) analysis showed that the first six PC axes explained 70.99% of the total multivariate variation. It revealed high morphological variation among the C. chinense genotypes. In conclusion, this identified C. chinense genetic resources to be evaluated as qualified breeding materials for developing new variety candidates in the near future.

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