Physiological quality of ‘biquinho’ pepper seeds as a function of fruit maturation stage

The ‘biquinho’ pepper is important in Brazilian cuisine, and the production of quality seeds is necessary to guarantee the production of seedlings. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the ideal maturation period for collecting fruits to extract seeds for seedling production, as well as to correlate the main morphological characteristics of ‘biquinho’ pepper seedlings with the Dickson quality index. The experimental design was completely randomized, with four maturation stages (1 - green fruit: completely green exocarp, 2 - orange fruit: orange exocarp, 3 - transition orange - 20% orange and 80% red, 4 - red fruit - red exocarp) and eight repetitions. Ripe fruits were harvested from the tops of three plants according to the maturation stage. Plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, dry mass of roots and shoots, and Dickson's quality index were evaluated. Seedlings showed higher quality when seeds were collected from fruits in the orange transition stage - 20% orange and 80% red. The traits that correlate positively with Dickson's quality index are plant height, shoot dry matter, and root system dry matter.