Drying procedures for optimal pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) seed quality.

Abstract

This study was conducted at the Department of Crop Production, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. The aim was to determine the effect of different processing methods (drying procedures) on seed quality of 'Tatashe' and 'Shombo' cultivars of pepper (Capsicum annum L.). Red-ripe fruits of each cultivar were divided into ten lots with each lot processed differently tagged P1 to P10: seeds of P1 and P2 were extracted from red-ripe freshly harvested fruits and were sundried or air-dried for 16 days respectively. Seeds of P3 to P8 were extracted from fruits that were sundried for 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 days followed by air-drying for the balance of 14, 12, 10, 8, 6 and 4 days respectively. seeds of treatments P9 and P10 were extracted from fruits that had been sun or air-dried respectively for 16 days. Results show that the moisture content of freshly extracted seeds varied between 43 and 49%. Seeds of the two cultivars dried faster in the sun than under air-drying at any moisture content of 2.2 and 2.1% in 'Tatashe' and 'Shombo' respectively by 16 days of drying. Dry seeds were stored in open container at 37C and 90% Relative Humidity to accelerate their age. Seed samples were drawn from the stored lots and tested to determine germination percentage (GP), germination rate (GR), germination rate index (GRI) and germination index (GI) at 0, 10, 20, 40 and 60 days after storage. The study was a 2X10 factorial experiment and the arrangement was a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The data collected was subjected to analysis of variance using Minitab 17.0 version. Means were separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) when significant difference occurred among treatments. The result obtained showed that GP, GR, GRI and GI were greater in 'Shombo' than in 'Tatashe'. Seeds processed by the P1, P2 and P10 methods germinated significantly higher and faster and stored longer than those of other processing methods. Seed quality was poorer in seeds extracted from sundried fruits compared to those from air-dried fruits