## 3 Results
### Carotenoid, Anthocyanidin, Capsaicinids, and Ascorbic Acid Concentrations  
The carotenoid profiles (capsanthin, zeaxanthin, and \(\beta\)-carotene) in pepper fruit were separated and detected to gain insightful information about them by HPLC (Table 1). Among them, S59 (_C. annuum_, brown) had the highest capsanthin content (170.92 ug/g), whereas this red carotenoid was not detected in 17 pepper accessions, including S02 (_C. annuum_, purple black), S03 (_C. annuum_, olivine), S04 (_C. annuum_, olivine), and S05 (_C. annuum_, dark green). Zeaxanthin was present in all the accessions investigated. S43 (_C. annuum_, dark green) had the highest concentration of zeaxanthin (118.91 ug/g), whereas S04 (_C. annuum_, olivine) had the lowest concentration (2.69 ug/g) of it. S67 (_C. annuum_, red) had the highest concentration of \(\beta\)-carotene (11,158.94 ug/g), but it was not detected in seven pepper accessions, including S03 (_C. annuum_, olivine), S09 (_C. annuum_, orange), and S19 (_C. annuum_, olivine) (Table 1). The coefficients of variation of capsanthin, zeaxanthin, and \(\beta\)-carotene were 182.36%, 64.75%, and 118.17%, respectively (Supplemental Table S2). There was no significantly difference in capsanthin and \(\beta\)-carotene among the three pepper species (\(p>0.05\)). However, the zeaxanthin of _C. annuum_ was significantly higher than that of _C. chinese_ and _C. frutescens_ (\(p<0.05\)), and the _C. frutescens_ was not significantly different from that of _C. chinese_ (\(p>0.05\)) (Supplemental Table S3).  
The 75 pepper samples were screened for the six anthocyanins, but only the blue delphinidin was detected in the fruits (Table 1). The test results showed that S69 (_C. annuum_, purple-black) had the highest concentration of delphinidin (2370.10 ug/g); nevertheless, it was not detected in 30 pepper accessions, including S01 (_C. annuum_, orange), S03 (_C. annuum_, orange), and S04 (_C. annuum_, olivine) (Table 1). The coefficient of variation of delphinidin was 145.66% (Supplemental Table S2). The delphinidin of _C. annuum_ was significantly higher than that of _C. frutescens_ and _C. chinese_ (\(p<0.05\)), and it was not detected in _C. chinese_ and _C. frutescens_ (Supplemental Table S3).  
Asaying of the capsaicinoids concentration found that there were significant differences in the concentration of capsaicinoids among the 75 accessions (Table 1). The coefficients of variation of nordihydrocapsaicin, capsaicin, and dihydrocapsaicin were 182.36%, 64.75%, and 118.17%, respectively (Supplemental Table S2). It should be noted that the amount of the three capsaicinoids were all the highest in S24 (_C. chinese_), which corresponded to 1.83 mg/g, 22.96 mg/g, and 13.86 mg/g, respectively. None of the capsaicinoids were detected in accessions S09 (_C. annuum_) and S68 (_C. annuum_). Additionally, dihydrocapsaicin and nordihydrocapsaicin were absent from S25 (_C. annuum_) (Table 1). Nordihydrocapsaicin, capsaicin, and dihydrocapsaicin of _C. chinese_ were significantly higher than that of _C. annuum_ amd _C. frutescens_ (\(p<0.05\)), and the _C. frutescens_ was not significantly different from that of _C. annuum_ (\(p>0.05\)) (Supplemental Table S3).  
Analysis of ascorbic acid indicated that there were significant differences in the 75 pepper samples (Table 1). Among them, S59 (_C. annuum_) had the highest ascorbic acid concentration (1517.32 ug/g), whereas S20 (_C. frutescens_) has the lowest value (3.48 ug/g). The coefficient of variation of ascorbic acid was 87.00% (Supplemental Table S2). There was no significantly difference in ascorbic acid among the three pepper species (\(p>0.05\)).