Correlation between Fruit Characters and Degree of Polysomaty in Fruit Tissues of Capsicum

Abstract

The correlation between several fruit characters and the degree of polysomaty, i.e., the number of peaks in flow cytometric analysis, was examined using mature fruits of 12 genotypes from three species of Capsicum. Capsicum chacoense PI260429, which had the smallest fruit with the thinnest pericarp, showed the least number of peaks in ploidy levels, i.e., four ploidies ranging from 2C to 16C, whereas Capsicum annuum ‘Édes alma’ had the thickest pericarp and the highest peak numbers of eight ploidy levels, ranging from 2C to 256C. Among the morphological traits of fruit examined, pericarp thickness showed the highest correlation with the degree of polysomaty (r = 0.88).