Background: The extensive use of pepper fruit creates a constant demand for new cultivars with specific agromorphological properties. The wide variety of breeding materials of this species means that methods based on morphological traits descriptions are not always sufficient to allow for their identification. Genetic homogeneity must be guaranteed to ensure repeatability of phenotypic traits. Most often, molecular analyses characterizing diversity at the DNA level are used for this purpose.
Material and methods: The PCR-RAPD technique was used for molecular analysis of the generative offspring of three cultivars of pepper: "Anchi", "Luba" and "Sono" and their forms of different fruit colour. The genetic distance between the tested genotypes was determined using the Nei and Li formula.
Results: The reaction with 26 RAPD primers resulted in a total of 262 products and 5.2% of them were polymorphic bands. Eight of the used primers generated 12 polymorphic products that differentiated the tested genotypes. The "Anchi" cultivar was identified by the primers A07, K10, Q07 and AE10. Starter Q07 identified as well the "Luba" cultivar. Reactions carried out with primers B10 and RAD1 identified the "Sono" cultivar. In addition, primer A15 generated products that made it possible to distinguish yellow-fruit and red-fruit forms within the "Luba" and "Sono" cultivars.
Conclusion: The analyses showed a low degree of genetic distance between C. annuum L. cultivars confirming the genetic homogeneity of the examined groups of plants and creating and opportunity for molecular identification of the genetic diversity within the "Luba" and "Sono" cultivars.
Keywords: Capsicum annuum L; RAPD technique; genetic diversity.
© 2021 Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences.