Plant Tissue Cult. 7(1) : 47-51, 1997 (June)

Capsaicin Accumulation in Callus Cultures and Whole Fruits of Capsicum annuum L.

Varindra, S. Saikia, R. Randhawa, K. L. Bajaj and S. S. Gosal¹

Department of Biochemistry, Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana-141 004, India

Key words: Capsicum annuum, Capsaicin, Callus cultures Secondary metabolism

Abastract

Capsaicin content was determined in developing fruits of four varieties of Capsicum annum L. viz. Punjab Lal, Punjab Gucchedar, Punjab Surkh and Sweet Chilli and in callus cultures of Punjab Lal (high capsaicin yielding variety) at various stages of growth. Capsaicin accumulation begins as early as seven days after flowering and its accumulation reaches maximum at 35 days after flowering and remains almost constant till 49 days after flowering in the fruits of all the four varieties. Capsaicin content at later stage was 6.2 to 7.0 mg/g dry wt in the three high capsaicin-yielding varieties and 3.0 mg/g dry wt in sweet chilli. The callus culture from pericarp were raised on MS medium supplemented with 2 ppm 2, 4-D and 0.5 ppm kinetin. Capsaicin accumulation in callus was maximum between 7(21.7 ? 2.7 mg/g dry wt) and 14 (23.5 ? 0.6 mg/g dry wt) days of subculturing and it was almost three ? four times that found in fruits at any time.

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