Potential of peppers of the genus Capsicum and their use as an ornamental plant
Authors: Dias Fernanda Martins , Xavier Maxuel Fellipe Nunes , Campos Luiz Fernandes Cardoso , Dos Santos Flávio Pereira , Melo Patrícia Guimarães Santos , Nascimento Abadia dos Reis 
Published: February 2024

Capsicum is a genus of the Solanaceae family, where the different types of domesticated peppers are found. They are bushy plants, originating from the Americas, producing fruits that are generally used in cooking. The Garden of the School of Agronomy, at the Federal University of Goiás, has a collection of peppers with 167 accessions, where part of these accessions (57) was evaluated to verify their suitability as an ornamental plant. This work was carried out in the experimental area of the Garden of the School of Agronomy at the Federal University of Goiás, in Goiânia – GO Brazil, in the Horticulture sector. The experiment was installed in August 2022 with sowing carried out in resistant plastic trays, with 50 cells, kept in a greenhouse and transplanting carried out in the open area. 5 (five) seedlings were used per accession, where for every 10 (ten accessions of the collection, 5 (five) seedlings of round potted commercial red pepper were transplanted, also added to the collection, with the code (UFGMH070) and the experiment outlined in enlarged blocks. The studied accessions were characterized agronomically, using fifteen descriptors recommended by IPGRI (1995). Among these descriptors, eight are quantitative in nature (plant height (PH), crown diameter (CD), fruit length (FRL), fruit width (FRW), pericarp thickness (PT), number of locules (NL), pericarp weight (PW) and seed weight (SEW) and seven have a qualitative nature (flower color (FLC), position fruit size (FRP), fruit color (FRC), fruit shape (FRS), fruit surface (FRS), seed color (SEC), seed surface (SES). For data analysis, a matrix was estimated of dissimilarity, through the joint analysis of quantitative and qualitative variables, with this matrix, a dendrogram was obtained. The grouping of accesses was obtained using the UPGMA (Unweighted Pair-Group Method Using an Arithmetic Average) method. The data were analyzed by the computational software R. To establish the ornamental value of the plants, the criteria of the Veiling cooperative in Holambra were used, where the variables plant height and position of flowers and fruits, among the descriptors evaluated, are the most important. According to the cluster analysis, there was a division into seven groups and it was possible to observe that Group III had the highest number of accesses, 63.16%, followed by Group II with 15.79%, Group IV with 12.28%. %, Group V with 3.51% and those who were isolated, in groups with only one access Group I 1.75%, Group VI 1.75% and Group VII 1.75%, of the total accesses. Within the dendrogram, the group with the largest number of accessions is Group 3, where in this group are the plants that presented ideal plant height, white flowers and fruits with an upright arrangement, ideal characteristics for their use as an ornamental plant. Agronomic characterization, based on quantitative and qualitative descriptors, enabled an interpretation of genetic dissimilarity, which allows better targeting, for the producer, research, as well as for extension.