## 5 Conclusions  
The results of the work showed that there were significant differences in the quality of the fruits of different pepper accessions. From the perspective of morphological characteristics (fruit type, fruit color, fruit size, etc.), _C. chintense_, _C. frutscents_, and _C. annuum_ accessions exhibited different levels of variation. Capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin were the most important capsaicinoid substances in pepper fruits, of which _C. chintense_ had the highest concentrations, whereas some accessions of _C. annuum_ were not detected. The higher carotenoids were tested in orange and red peppers, whereas the higher anthocyanins (specifically, delphinidin) were found in purple and black peppers. The pepper fruits investigated in this work were rich in the fatty acid, linoleic acid, oleic acid, and palmitic acid. Therein, linoleic acid (a polyunsaturated fatty acid) was the main fatty acid present in peppers. Seventy-five accessions were identified in this study, of which four accessions had the highest content of quality-related compounds. Two of them belonged to _C. chintense_ (S23 and S24) and possessed high capsaicin concentration. However, S67 (_C. annuum_) had high \(\beta\)-carotene concentration and S68 (_C. annuum_) contained high levels of total fatty acid and ascorbic acid. In view of the important roles of capsaicinoids, carotenoids, and fatty acids in food and health, many of the pepper accessions identified in this study were rich in these phytochemicals, and may shed light on development potential.  
The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app12126292/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app12126292/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app12126292/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app12126292/s1)), Table S1: Morphologic parameters among 75 pepper germplasm resources; Table S2: Variation of 75 pepper germplasm resources; Table S3: Morphologic parameters and chemical parameters among three _Capsicum_ species; Figure S1: The investigated 75 peppers germplasm samples; Figure S2: HPLC chromatogram of ascorbic acid of standard (A) and sample S28 (_C. annuum_); Figure S3: HPLC chromatogram of capsanthin, zeaxanthin, and \(\beta\)-carotene of standard (A) and sample S40 (_C. annuum_); Figure S4: HPLC chromatogram of northydro capsaicin, capsaicin, and dihydrocapsaicin of standard (A) and sample S24 (_C. chinese_); Figure S5: HPLC chromatogram of anthocyanins of standard (A) and sample S34 (_C. annuum_); Figure S6: HPLC chromatogram of fatty acid methyl ester of standard (A) and sample S09 (_C. annuum_); Figure S7: Correlation heat map of quality-related indicators in the _C. annuum_ (67 accessions). Blue means negative correlation, red means positive correlation. The depth of the color represents the level of correlation (the higher the correlation, the darker the color). The size of the circle also indicates the level of the correlation coefficient, and the higher the correlation coefficient, the larger the circle. If the \(p\) value is greater than 0.05, there is no circle display.  
Conceptualization and methodology, K.Z., J.W. and M.D.; writing--original draft preparation, P.L., Y.L. and X.Z.; writing--review and editing. J.L.; project administration, Z.X. and R.Z. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32160708), the Major Science and Technology Projects in Yunnan Province (202102 AE090005, 202205 AR07001), the Rural Revitalization Science and Technology Project in Yunnan Province (202204 BI090004).  
Not applicable.  
Data Availability Statement: The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.