Chemical variability of inedible fruit parts in pepper varieties (Capsicum annuum L.)

Abstract

Pepper is an important vegetable widely used for human nutrition and industrial processing. It is used dried or fresh in various pharmacological preparations and as a source of biologically active compounds, such as flavonoids, phenols, carotenoids, capsaicinoids and vitamins. In this paper, the morphological characteristics of the fruit and chemical characteristics of the inedible parts of eight varieties of peppers were studied. To our knowledge, chemical analyses of inedible parts in these varieties, especially of seminal placenta, were not performed. During the processing of the peppers, seeds and seed lodges are separated from a pericarp and dismissed as redundant, and this excludes the precious substances in the human diet. Varietal specificity of the observed parameters was expressed. The seeds of Una variety, and other varieties with 15% oil, could be used to extract edible oil. Seed lodges of the varieties Plamena, Amphora and SM 1 can be used as a food additive rich in cellulose. High concentration of phenolic compounds was found in hot varieties, SM 1 and Plamena, followed by sweet pepper Una. These findings suggest the use of inedible parts of Plamena, Amphora, Una and SM 1 in production of food supplements in order to enrich the human nutrition with these substances. The Vranjska variety had the lowest content of dry matter, cellulose and calcium - pectate, which diminishes its importance in human nutrition. Measurement of fresh mass of fruit parts was performed to illustrate participation of inedible parts in the total fruit mass.