Abstract
Fruits of five pepper cultivars collected in Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe A, B, C, D and E) and three Japanese native cultivars (Shishitou, Takanotsume and Yatsufusa) were grown at the campus of the College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University. Contents of capsaicinoids in the flesh, placenta and seeds were analyzed by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) . The chromatogram showed a typical pattern characterized by two major peaks corresponding to capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin and other minor peaks representing nordihydrocapsaicin, vanillyl-decanamide, homodihydrocapsaicin and an isomer of homodihydrocapsaicin. The capsaicinoid contents were high in the placenta and low in the seeds regardless of the cultivars. Among the Japanese cultivars, ‘Yatsufusa’gave the highest value for the capsaicinoid contents (5105.2mg/100g D.W.) . Although the size of the fruits of the cultivars collected in Zimbabwe was smaller than that of the fruits of Japanese cultivars, the capsaicinoid contents were much higher with the exception of Zimbabwe A; the capsaicinoid contents of Zimbabwe B, C, D and E were 5 times higher than that of‘Yatsufusa’.
