Physiological quality of Capsicum chinense 'Adjuma' seeds during development

Abstract

Once “bode” pepper plants (Capsicum) have continuous development and fructification, it is not possible to determine a specific season for seed physiologic maturation and harvest. This research aimed to evaluate physiological quality of “bode” pepper (Capsicum chinense 'Adjuma’) during fruit development and enzymes expression on seed germination. Manually extracted seeds were submitted to physiological tests being evaluated germination at first count (FC), final (G), and germination speed index (GSI), additionally, enzymatic analyses were carried. The lowest values for the physiological tests were observed for initial development stages. The greatest for FC, G and IVG were observed for seeds from fruits 70 days after anthesis (DAA). Superoxide dismutase enzyme has the highest values on seeds harvested at 49 DAA while malate dehydrogenase has more expression at 70 DAA. Catalase, alcohol dehydrogenase, and esterase have the higher expression at 63 DAA. The maturation stage influences bode pepper seed physiological quality, being seeds harvested at 70 DAA those with the better results on the evaluated parameters, thus, considered physiologically mature and the indicated time for harvest.