Excerpt from “Saving your own vegetable seeds—a guide for farmers”. This fact sheet was written by Sutevee Sukprakarn, SunantaJuntakool and Rukui Huang of Katsesart University and Tom Kalb of AVRDC. AVRDC Publication No. 06-667.Published by AVRDC—The World Vegetable Center; P.O. Box 42, Shanhua; Taiwan 74151; ROC. April 2006.
tel: (886-6) 583-7801; fax: (886-6) 583-0009; email: [email protected]; web: www.avrdc.org
Saving Seeds of Pepper
Production
Pepper (Capsicum annuum) growsbest in the dry season withtemperatures in the range of21–33 °C. The night temperature isespecially critical; generally, plantswill not set fruits if nighttemperatures remain above 30 °C.Ideally, select a field where theprevious crop was a legume or acereal. Avoid fields where theprevious crop was sweet potato ora solanaceous crop (tomato, pepper,eggplant, and white potato). Thisprevents the build-up of diseasesand insects.
Isolation
Peppers produce perfect, mostlyself-pollinating flowers. Solitary beeswill pollinate if other more desirablepollen is not available in the area.Most growers will get satisfactoryresults if different varieties areseparated by 20 m or with another
tall, wind breaking crop. Closing theflower bud with a cotton ball whenthe distance of isolation is notsufficient is an ideal method toprevent cross-pollination.
Selection
The earliest maturing and moreattractive plants should be markedand inspected during growth. Selecthealthy, attractive fruits for seedsaving. Seeds from off-type plantsor fruits should not be saved.
Harvesting
Harvest mature, fully-ripe peppers forseed. Most peppers turn red whenfully mature.
Processing
Pepper seeds may be extractedfrom fresh fruits (Fig. 1) or from fruitsthat have been dried in the sun for afew days (Fig. 2). Seeds may be
Fig. 1. Sweet pepper cut for fresh seedextraction by hand
Fig. 2. Chili pepper prepared for dryseed extraction
removed by hand or extracted bygrinding the fruits and separating theseeds from fruits with a series ofwater rinses. Spread the seeds ona screen for drying under shade for2–3 days but bring them inside everyevening.
Storage
Dried seeds can be safely stored forat least three years. Place seeds injars, manila envelopes, cloth ormesh bags, plastic containers, orfoil envelopes. The best containersare air-tight, such as a sealed glassjar, metal can, or foil envelope.Protect seed from sunlight.
Store seeds in a cool (below15 °C is ideal), dry location. Placethe seeds in a refrigerator for long-term storage. For short-term stor-age, keep the seeds in a cool, shadyand dry place.
References
Berke, T.G. 2000. Multiplying seed of pep-per lines. AVRDC InternationalCooperators’ Guide. Asian VegetableResearch and Development Center,Shanhua, Taiwan.
Kelly, A.F. and R.A.T. George. 1998.Encyclopaedia of seed production ofworld crops. New York: John Wiley &Sons.
Rashid, M.A. and D.P. Singh. 2000. A manualof seed production in Bangladesh.AVRDC-USAID-Bangladesh Project.Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh.
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