FRUIT QUALITY ATTRIBUTES AND SHELF LIFE OF SERRANO PEPPER CULTIVARS IN MÉXICO

Abstract

Serrano pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is mostly used in México for fresh consumption. Thus, fruit quality and fruit shelf life are important factors for its marketing. However, scientific literature on this subject is scarce. In this study we evaluated fruit quality attributes and shelf life of 19 cultivars of Serrano pepper developed by the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrícolas, Forestales y Pecuarias (INIFAP), and several private seed companies. A completely random experimental design was used with 10 repetitions, each fruit being a repetition. Cultivars varied (P ≤ 0.01) in: fruit weight, diameter, length, firmness, color (chroma and tone or hue angle) and physiological weight loss. Fruits from ‘Bandido’ and ‘HMX-5651’ cultivars were the largest and had the highest color intensity (P ≤ 0.01), while ‘HMX-6671’ ‘HMX-6661’, ‘Blakie’, ‘HS-44’ produced fruits of intense color (P ≤ 0.01). ‘Centauro’ fruits had the highest firmness (P ≤ 0.01). Cultivars ‘HS-49’, ‘HS-51’, ‘21-20-1’ and ‘74-5-5’ registered high values of firmness combined with low percentage of weight loss. Cultivars ‘74-27-5’, ‘Tampiqueño 74’ and ‘33-12-2’ also had low weight losses. Materials developed by private companies produced large fruits of intense color, while cultivars developed by INIFAP had higher fruit firmness and lower weight loss.