DISCOVERING A NEW HIGH PUNGENCY ETHYL METHANE SULFONATE’S MUTANT OF CHILI PEPPER (Capsicum frutescens L.)

The G1/01 strain is a superior variant selected from the mutation induction with Ethyl Methane Sulfonate (EMS) mutagen. This strain has a higher level of spiciness and higher capsaicin content compared to its original type. Following variations that emerge until the fourth generation of G1/01 mutant offspring, it is important to identify the appearance of mutants that have certain desired trait. In this study, morphological, physiological and molecular identification with Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was conducted to identify mutants that have high spiciness and produce fruit in large quantities. Fifteen fourth generation G1/01 plants were planted. The morphology characters includes, stems, leaves, flowers and fruit were observed with refer to the Descriptors for Capsicum (Capsicum spp.) By the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) and Tropical Agricultural Research and Training Center (CATIE) (1995). Observation of capsaicinoid content to predict the spiciness of the fruit is done by spectrophotometric methods. Furthermore, molecular distances based on Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) data are used to estimate the magnitude of the molecular changes occurred. Five high pungency mutants derived from G1/01 mutant lines were selected i.e. plants no1, 10, 11, 12, and 14 based on the high levels of capsaicinoid. Of the five plants, plant number 12 is a plant that produces fruit with high capsaicin (8.556 mg / g) so that it has a high spiciness level of up to 136.896 Schoville Units (SHU). Plants with lower spiciness (99.200 SHU) is plant no. 10, but has more fruit. Molecularly, plant no. 12 is in one cluster with several other plants so that it does not show high specificity when compared to plant no 10. Thus both mutants are superior mutant candidates with high spiciness.