PHENOTYPIC DIVERSITY OF LOCAL PEPPER (Capsicum annuum L.) VARIETIES INTENDED FOR DEHYDRATION

Peppers are one of the most divergent group of vegetables globally. In part of the Balkan region, but mostly in Macedonia there are distinct local varieties, intended for drying as a whole fruit on strings and are used in traditional dishes, processed foods and as condiments. A collection of 21 local pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) varieties intended for drying in traditional manner, was evaluated for 26 plant traits. The Principal Component Analysis yielded 5 principal components with eigenvalue > 1, explaining 81.48 % of the variability. The first two principal components were highly corelated with 8 plant traits (FL – fruit length, FWg – fruit weight (g), PL – pedicel length (cm), PT – pericarp thickness (mm), PW – plant width (cm), LL – leaf length (cm), DFL-days to flowering, DFR – days to fruiting). The cluster analysis, based on those traits was performed and resulted in grouping the accession into three clusters. The first included accessions with highest values for the analysed traits, while the third cluster included accessions with lowest values for days to fruiting and maturity. The initial characterization of the investigated pepper germplasm, based on qualitative and quantitative plant traits, revealed high variability among the accessions