Morphological characterization and analysis of genetic variability among pepper accessions

The peppers of the genus Capsicum have economic potential and elevated genetic variability. The objective of the study was to characterize morpho-agronomically and estimate the genetic divergence among pepper accessions of the active germplasm bank of Capsicum of the Instituto Federal do Espirito Santo, Campus Alegre. Thirty accessions were characterized based on ten morphological descriptors being the experimental design completely randomized, with six repetitions. Genetic diversity among the accessions was estimated by the Tocher grouping method as a measurement of dissimilarity and formed eight groups. The Singh method, used to estimate the relative contribution of each character in the expression of genetic divergence, indicated that the diameter of the produce (20.19%) and the height of the plant (19.46%) were the ones to contribute most to the total divergence (39.65%) among the accessions of pepper being studied. The study evidenced the existence of high genetic variability among the accessions of C. annuum collected in the south region of the state of Espirito Santo. No correlation was detected between the genetic distance and location of collections.