Chilli has numerous bioactive components and served since ages in global cuisine and therapeutics. To meet demands of food and various industries, potential genotypes with finest bioactive components is needed. Hence, the objective was to unravel the natural phytochemical variation of 25 chilli genotypes available from the northwestern region of India. The genotypes PT (1.28%), PAU-114 (1.17%) and PL (1.16%) contain high capsaicin, while PL (8.9%), PS (8.2%) and HM-242 (7.8%) have high oleoresin content. PC-431, SB-493 and SM-481 were identified as promising genotypes exhibiting potential antioxidant properties. The correlation matrix depicted a significant association between traits that assist in breeding program. Oleoresin has a negative association with total phenolics. The genetic components revealed less influence of environmental factors and thus improvement through pure line selection method is possible. Phytochemically enriched genotypes can be utilised in diverse areas, viz. nutritional, food processing, therapeutics, cosmetics and in breeding programmes.
Keywords: Ascorbic acid; bioactive components; capsaicin; oleoresin; phenolic compound.