The energized water, Bio Green Water (BG water) was manufactured through a series of processes: tap water, purification, adding catalysts, spectra energy imprinting, filtering, BG water. BG water was supplied at four times at 3-week interval to the bench soil of green peppers (`Nokwang') in the plastic film house. BG water-treated green pepper showed the reduced plant highs compared to the control, although there were no difference in the number of nodes and leaves between the BG water treatment and the control. This was attributed to shorter internode length by the treatment. The BG water treatment significantly increased fruit weight, length, and diameter and decreased abnormally curved fruit. The treatment also increased harvested fruit numbers and yields outstandingly. Postharvest, the green peppers harvested from the treated plants were not changed in green color; however, fruit in the control were gradually discolored to dark brown.
Field research was conducted in Deerfield, Mass. to study the effects of different cover crop species seeded between plastic mulch on weed pressure and pepper yield. A complete fertilizer was applied before plastic was laid on Sept. 13, 1991. Two cover crop treatments were seeded Sept. 13, 1991: white clover (Trifolium repens) alone and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) in combination with winter rye (Secale cereale). On May 27, 1992 the vetch and rye were mow-killed with the biomass left on the soil surface. Annual rye (Lolium multiflorum) was then seeded on the same day as the third cover crop treatment. The remaining two treatments were a weedy check and a hand-weeded check. Peppers were transplanted into the plastic on May 31. Both the annual rye and clover were mowed three times over the course of the experiment with the biomass left between the plastic mulch. The white clover and annual rye were much more competitive with weed species than the dead mulch of vetch and rye. The three cover crop treatments had pepper yields that were severely depressed compared to the hand-weeded treatment. Among the three cover crop treatments, only the annual rye yielded more peppers than the weedy check.
Based on anatomical investigations, temperature effect on the rate of plant and flower primordium differentiation were determined. Flower primordium differentiation of bell pepper was divided into 10 stages from a vegetative shoot apex to a fully developed flower bud according to ontogenic changes of the shoot apex. Both the physiological age as determined by leaf number and the flower primordium differentiation were significantly hastened by the high temperature of 30*C day and 15*C night. The flower primordium differentiation was highly correlated with the physiological age and the relationship was independent of temperature. The result showed that carpels were initiated between the sixth and seventh leaf stage and were fused with each other and with developing placentae after the eighth leaf reaching 1 cm long.
Effect of combination and concentration of growth regulators on the regeneration of pepper plant from different explant tissues was studied. Seedlings were grown aseptically in 400 ml glass bottles containing MS agar medium at 26±2C under a 16 h·d-1 photoperiod (2000 lux, florescent lamps). Explants taken from 4 week-old seedlings were cultured under these conditions on 40 ml of MS agar (8 g·liter-1) medium containing 3 g·liter-1 sucrose in a 400 ml glass bottle. Primary and subsequent leaves attached to petiole regenerated better than cotyledon and hypocotyl. Among the combinations of different concentrations of cytokinin and auxin added in the medium, a combination of 5 μM IAA with either 10 μM zeatin or 10 μM BA gave the best regeneration. With these combinations, regeneration frequency of multiple shoots from the primary and subsequent leaves was greater than 70%. Regenerated shoots rooted readily in MS agar medium containing 3 g·liter-1 sucrose and 0.5 μM NAA.
Physical characteristics [initial water content, surface area, surface area: volume (SA: V) ratio, cuticle weight, epicuticular wax content, and surface morphology] were examined to determine relationships between physical properties and water-loss `rate in pepper fruits. `Keystone', `NuMex R Naky', and `Santa Fe Grande' peppers, differing in physical characteristics, were stored at 8, 14, or 20C. Water-loss rate increased linearly with storage time at each temperature and was different for each cultivar. Water-loss rate was positively correlated with initial water content at 14 and 20C, SA: V ratio at all temperatures, and cuticle thickness at 14 and 20C. Water-loss rate was negatively correlated with surface area and epicuticular wax content at all temperatures. Stomata were absent on the fruit surface, and epicuticular wax was amorphous for each cultivar.
Three Korean cultivars, Pungkak, Kalmi, and Subi, were crossed with PI 201234, which has resistance to P. capsici. A backcross breeding program was initiated to incorporate the Phytophthora resistance into the Korean cultivars, but the level of resistance decreased as the backcross round increased. Highly resistant plants occurred frequently in the BC1F2 populations but were rare in the BC2F1 populations. Resistant plants selected in BC1F3 populations had nearly enough recovery of the growth and fruit characteristics of the Korean recurrent parents. Crosses were made between resistant selections in each BC1F2 population. The F1 hybrids showed a considerably increased level of resistance.
A replicated greenhouse study was conducted to confirm the availability of resistance to western Rower thrips in pepper germplasm. Host-plant resistance ratings confirmed earlier observations that there is a considerable amount of variability within pepper germplasm for reaction to F. occidentalis. Plants of `Keystone Resistant Giant', `Yolo Wonder L', `Mississippi Nemaheart', `Sweet Banana', and `California Wonder' were resistant to the insect and exhibited only mild symptoms of damage. Plants of `Carolina Cayenne', `Santaka', and `Bohemian Chili', however, exhibited the symptoms of severe thrips damage, i.e., poorly expanded, deformed, and distorted leaves; greatly shortened internodes; and severe chlorosis. The resistance to F. occidentalis in pepper appears to be due to tolerance mechanisms, not antixenosis (nonpreference) or antibiosis mechanisms. Thrips-resistant cultivars could be used as a cornerstone in an integrated pest management program for greenhouse pepper production.
A new and simple protocol for androgenesis in bell pepper is described. The initial medium, a modification of Nitsch and Nitsch's H medium, consisted of a two-phase system of semi-solid and liquid medium and contained maltose as carbon source. The total number of embryos formed was greater with maltose at 40 g·L-1, but embryos developed better at 10 to 20 g·L-1. Depending on the genotype, the number of embryos and plants recovered ranged from 3 to 750 and 0.25 to 8, respectively, per 100 flowers. Further increases in the number of embryos (up to 3561 per 100 flowers) and plants (up to 23 per 100 flowers) could be attained by flushing cultures with air enriched with CO2 at 900 μL·L-1. The ploidy level and the microspore origin of the recovered plants were determined by flow cytometry and zymograms for isocitrate dehydrogenase. Nearly 65% of the acclimated plants had undergone spontaneous doubling of the chromosome number, as confirmed by flow cytometry of leaf nuclei. Isocitrate dehydrogenase zymograms demonstrated that plants originated from microspores and that the two parental alleles were equally represented among the haploid and dihaploid plants.
The segregation ratios for verticillium wilt resistance in PI 215699 suggests that verticillium wilt resistance is a quantitative trait. Additive and dominance genetic variance effects were studied. The F1, F2, F1 B Cr, and F1 B Cs, using the resistant parent (Pr) and the susceptible parent (Ps), PI 215699, and BG. 1668, respectively, were accomplished. The plants were grown in soil temperature tanks with a 25 ± 1C soil temperature, an inoculum level of 2000 microsclerotia of Verticillium dahliae Kleb. per gram of soil, and 18 hours of 250 umol·m-2 · s-1 light. The experiment consisted of four replications with 30 plants per replication for each generation. The seedlings were individually scored 70 days after sowing for an interaction phenotype score (IP) using a scale ranging from 1 to 9 in which 1 = no aerial symptoms and 9 = death. Means, variance, and standard deviations for the percentage of resistant plants (IP = 1) were calculated. A joint three-factor scaling test to estimate the parameters [mid-parent value (m), additive effects (d), and dominance effects (h)] revealed that the data did not fit a simple additive-dominance model. Epistasis was suspected to be present and a joint six-factor model was therefore tested. The joint six-factor model estimates m, d, h, and three epistatic interactions parameters [additive × additive (i), additive × dominance (j), and dominance × dominance (1)]. All epistatic interactions parameters were significant. These results indicate that additive and epistasis effects were involved in the genetic control of verticillium wilt resistance in PI 215699. Broad-sense and narrow-sense heritabilities for percentage of resistant plants in population PI 215699 were estimated to be 0.81 and 0.48 after 70 days of sowing, respectively.
Pungency, caused by the presence of capsaicinoids, is a major quality-determining factor in chile (CapsicumL. sp.) The inheritance of nordihydrocapsaicin, capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, isomer of dihydrocapsaicin, and homodihydrocapsaicin has not yet been determined. Generations mean analysis revealed that additive, dominance, and interaction effects were significant for capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, and isomer of dihydrocapsaicin in an interspecific hybridization of C. annuum L. × C. chinense Jacq. A simple additive-dominance model was sufficient to explain the genetic variation for nordihydrocapsaicin and homodihydrocapsaicin. Except dihydrocapsaicin and isomer of dihydrocapsaicin in the BCP1 family, the values of backcross families shift toward the recurrent parents. Because of the significant additive gene effect and the tendency of the values of the capsaicinoids at backcross families to shift toward the recurrent parents, repeated backcrossing and selection will increase and decrease (depending on the recurrent parent) the capsaicinoid content. Positive genetic correlations were observed between the capsaicinoids and the values ranged from 0.4 to 0.8. The estimated number of effective factors were 0.4 for nordihydrocapsaicin, 0.6 for homodihydrocapsaicin, 0.9 for isomer of dihydrocapsaicin, 1.1 for dihydrocapsaicin, 2.8 for total capsaicinoids, and 6.2 for capsaicin. Different gene actions and a different number of effective factors involved in the capsaicinoids inheritance imply that different genes are controlling the synthesis of each capsaicinoid.