Variation of Plant and Fruit Characteristics in Capsicum frutescens.

Among the 6500 accessions of the pepper germplasm which conserved at RDA Genebank, 319 accessions were investigated charateristics such as their growth habit, flowering and fruit shape in Capsicum frutescens. All accessions were characterized for their 14 qualitative and 16 quantitative characters. Results revealed that both qualitative and quantitative characters exhibited wide variation among the studied germplasm. The hypocotyl color, which investigated in juvenile stage, was divided in three types such as green, purple, and purple with green, and most of the accessions showed in purple. Flowering starts from 7 May, and most accessions were starting to flower from 27 May to 25 June. The fresh color of the mature pepper were red, yellow, orange, Etc. Fruit shape were mostly elongated, while exhibited ball shape and round shape were a few. The fresh weight of fruits ranged from 0.2 to 42.3, and the diameter of fruit showed from 4.2 to 45.1 mm, respectively. The phenotypic diversity exists in Capsicum frutescens. provide valuable information to improve agronomic traits in pepper breeding program.