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EUCARPIA

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CPSBB

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18-21 September 2023

Plovdiv, Bulgaria

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EUCARPIA
CAPSICUM &
EGGPLANT

2023

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Eucarpia 2023

18th EUCARPIA MEETING ON
Genetics and Breeding of
Capsicum and Eggplant
TITLE: A NOVEL GLOBAL CAPSICUM CORE COLLECTION
DELIVERS CANDIDATE GENES FOR ROBUST AGRONOMIC
QTLS THROUGH A MULTI-ENVIRONMENT GWAS

APPROA

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**Authors:** McLeod, L.[1,2], Barchi, L.[3], Tumino, G.[4], Tripodi, P.[5], Giuliano G.[6], Voorrips, R.[4], Paran, I.[7], Lefebvre, V.*[1]

**Affiliations:** 1- INRAE, GAFL, Montfavet, France; 2- INRAE, A2M, Montfavet, France; 3- DISAFA, Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, Plant genetics, University of Torino, Grugliasco, Italy; 4- WUR, Wageningen University & Research, Plant Breeding, Wageningen, The Netherlands; 5- CREA, Research Centre for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Pontecagnano Faiano, Italy; 6- ENEA, Casaccia Research Centre, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy, and Sustainable Economic Development, Roma, Italy; 7- ARO, Institute of Plant Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Rishon LeZion, Israel

**Presenting author***: veronique.lefebvre@inrae.fr

**Corresponding author:** LM: louis.mcleod@inrae.fr; VL: veronique.lefebvre@inrae.fr

**Abstract:** Deciphering the genetic architecture of quantitative traits through genome-wide association mapping on core collections paves the way for breeding adapted crops. We constructed the G2P-SOL pepper world core collection, a set of 423 *Capsicum* spp. accessions of great genotypic and phenotypic variability, representing the diversity of more than 10,000 pepper accessions from 10 major genebanks. To tackle the modulation of complex quantitative traits by the environment and by the genotype-by-environment (GxE) interaction effects, a highly diverse subset of 350 C. *annuum* accessions was extensively phenotyped in a multi-location effort. Multi-environment genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted for 23 agronomic traits pertaining to fruit flavor, color, size and shape, and to plant productivity, vigor and precocity. Robust QTLs and environment-specific QTLs were thus detected, and 97 well-known and new genes potentially underlying 53 of the most high-confidence and robust QTLs
were highlighted. These results assert the usefulness and universality of the G2P-SOL core collection, which will be available upon request for the pepper community, alongside the genotypic and phenotypic data collected as part of the G2P-SOL project. This unique resource will be a key asset in accelerating gene discovery, developing genetic markers for marker-assisted selection, and breeding pepper varieties adapted to various climatic environments.