**2. Pepper**

Pepper is a herbaceous plant with a tap root system. It grows up to 10-20 mm long and 3-7 mm in diameter, and fruit weight ranges from 128 to 210 g depending upon cultivars. The fruit grows from green through pale yellow to mature bright red [14]. There are 26 different species of pepper, but the most widely cultivated are *Capsicum chinense*, *Capsicum frutescens*, *Capsicum annum*, *Capsicum baccatum* and *Capsicum pubescens* [15]. The centre of diversity for *Capsicum* species is in South-central and South America, with most species having the same range in Brazil and Bolivia [16]. The primary centre of origin for domesticated *C. annum* is in semi-tropical Mexico [17, 18]. Bolivia is considered the centre of domestication for *C. baccatum* (*Aji*) and *C. Pubescens* (*rocoto*). Pepper's diversity is associated with its different names; chilly, chily, mirchi, chili, chile, *Aji*, paprika and capsicum for plants in the genus capsicum [19]. Pepper can appear in the local dialects as follows:


### **2.1 Common names for capsicum**

Aji*:* This is a South American term used for chili.

Anaheim: They are blunt-nosed, long and narrow with a green or reddish color. Bolita: Bolita is dark red, oval-shaped chili fruit with very high pungency. Cascabel: Dried form of bolita.

Cayenne chili: It is long and slender with dark green color. It turns red at maturity. Chiltepin: It is one of the oldest and original chili species. It has tiny round-shaped fruit.

Habanero: They are well known in Mexico and USA; they have thick flesh and green color, cylindrical and oval-shaped, which turns red when ripe.

Jamaican Hot: It originated from Jamaica. The color is green when immature and turns to yellow color at maturity.

Mirasol: They are beautiful, smooth, shining red skin and oval-shaped with high pungency. When dried, it is known as *'guajillo'* or *'puya'.*

Paprika: Paprika belongs to Capsicum annum; it originated from Mexico. It is usually dried and ground for seasoning.

Pasilla chili: It is long and thin with green color, which turns dark brown when it matures; it is mild to medium in pungency. The ripe pasilla is called *"Chilaca'* or "Chiles Negro'.

Pimento: This is Spanish paprika called pimento chili or cherry pepper. It is extremely mild in pungency; it is large heart-shaped red pepper with sweet, aromatic and succulent fruit.

Poblano: It originated from Pueblo in Mexico. It is heart-shaped green in color when unripe and turns red or brown at maturity. The pungency ranges from mild to moderate. The dried poblanos are known as Mulato and Ancho.

Scot's Bonnet or Scotch Bonnet: They are very high in pungency and may cause blisters to the tongue, dizziness and severe heartburn. They are irregular in shape with yellow, orange or red color.

Serrano: They are small, round in shape and slightly pointed at the end. They are smooth dark green when unripe and turn scarlet red, brown, orange and then yellow as they ripen with high pungency. They originated from the foothills of Puebla in Mexico.

Birdseye or Dhani Chillies: It is also known as African Devil Chile. It is tiny, green and bright red at maturity. It is grown in many African countries.

Byadagi or Kaddi Chillies are grown in Goa and Dharwar in Karnataka. These chillies are also called Kaddi chillies and wrinkled red when dried.

Guntur Sanman Chillies: These chillies are cultivated in the Guntur, Warangal and Khammam district of Andra Pradesh. The Guntur chillies are long with thick red skin with very high pungency.

Hindpur Chillies: These are found in Andhra Pradesh in India. These chillies are extremely pungent and red. The harvesting season for these chillies is from December to March.

Jwala Chillies: The most popular form of chili in India. Jwala is long and slender; when unripe, it has green color and turns red when ripe. Jwala means "volcano' in Hindi and is highly pungent. Jwala is found in Kheda and Mehsana in Gujarat.

Kanthari Chillies: The Kanathari chillies are grown in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. They are small and ivory white in color. They are highly pungent.

Kashmiri Mirch: It is grown in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir. It has smooth, shining skin and is fleshy with dark red color. They are mild in pungency.

Mundu Chillies or Gundu Molzuka: Are found in Tamil Nadu and Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh. They are roundish fruit with a moderately pungent yellowish red color.

Nalcheti Chillies: They are grown in Nagpur and Maharashtra. They are long and red when dried with high pungency.

Tomato Chili or Warangal Chappatta: These are found in Warangal, Khammam and the Godavari district of Andra Pradesh. These chillies are short, dark red in color, and when dried, these chillies have moderate pungency.

### *2.1.1 Factors influencing the nutritional composition of pepper*

### *2.1.1.1 Maturity stage and harvesting method*

Pepper's maturity is in three distinct stages during their developmental stages. These stages are immature green, mature green and mature red. It starts from immature green to mature green, pepper fruit increases in firmness and pungency, the cell walls thicken and no color change occurs. Mature green peppers are horticulturally developed and can be consumed fresh or in processed form. Harvesting of immature green peppers results in poor color, flavors and short lifespan [20]. Maturity is a major factor determining the compositional quality of fruits and vegetables. Fruit maturity depends on the cultivar and the environmental conditions before and during maturation [21]. Various workers reported that immature citrus fruits contained the highest concentration of vitamin C, whereas ripe fruits contained the least. Although vitamin C concentration decreased during the maturation of citrus fruits, the total vitamin C content per fruit tended to increase because the total volume of juice and fruit size increased with advancing maturity [22]. The method of harvest, maturity and physical injuries can influence the nutritional composition of pepper fruits. Mechanical damages (e.g. bruising, surface abrasions and cuts) can result in accelerated loss of vitamin C. The incidence and severity of such injuries are influenced by the method of harvest and handling operations. Vitamin C loss occurs when vegetables are severely cut or shredded, such as cabbage, lettuce, carrots and other vegetables sold as salad mix. Proper management should be employed to minimize physical damage to crops, whether harvesting is done by hand or by machine. Strawberries and other berries lose vitamin C quickly if bruised during harvesting [23]. Mondy and Leja found a considerable decrease in vitamin C content of injured tissue of potato tubers, while the unbruised halves appeared to show an increase in their vitamin C content [24, 25]. The harvest and postharvest techniques adopted by small-scale farmers in some developing countries were inappropriate for protecting fruits from damage and deterioration. The farmers also sometimes fail to sort out infected fruits from wholesome ones before transporting them to market, which could have reduced infection of healthy fruits and subsequent postharvest losses. Other causes of high failures include using unskilled labour for harvest, careless loading and unloading of harvested fruits, exposure of fruits to direct sunlight resulting in heat buildup and poor roads and transportation networks. Adewoyin and Babatola revealed that the shelf-life of pepper fruits harvested with pedicels at 10% ripeness and stored in refrigerator, evaporative coolant structure (ECS) and ambient condition (AC) were 27, 20 and 6 days, while those harvested at 100% ripeness were 21, 14 and 3 days, respectively. The corresponding shelf-life of pepper harvested without pedicel at 10% ripeness was 21, 18 and 5 days and those harvested at 100% ripeness were 18, 15 and 2 days. Deterioration was significantly higher in fruits harvested without pedicels than those harvested with pedicels [26].
