Characterization of biochemical compounds and antioxidant activity of “dedo-de-moça” pepper genotypes

Resumo

Capsicum baccatum is one of the main chili pepper species grown and consumed in South America.  In Brazil, C. baccatum var. pendulum is widely cultivated, especially dedo-de-moça. For most horticultural crops, including Capsicum species their diversity remains under-explored for traits related to fruit quality, since over the past half-century breeding efforts has focused mainly on good agronomic performances. The investment in screening traits such as flavor, nutritional compounds and antioxidant content in traditional varieties is very important to support fruit quality breeding efforts.  Thus, the objective of this study was accessing the variations into the content of soluble solid, acidity, capsaicinoid, vitamin C, total phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity (in vitro and in vivo) of five dedo-de-moça peppers accessions. The results evidenced that UEL 111 and UEL 112 accessions showed highest TSS and ratio. The UEL 110 and UEL 112 accessions showed the highest concentration of vitamin C and total phenolic content and UEL 113 accession showed the highest concentration of capsaicinoids. In vitro antioxidant assays suggest the UEL 114 with the highest antioxidant activity. In vivo antioxidant assays have not identified differences among the genotypes and have proved the antioxidant effect of chili pepper extracts on cell protection against stress agent. The results highlighted accessions that can be exploited in chili pepper breeding programs.