Differential Abscission and Ripening Responses to Ethylene by Tabasco Pepper Leaves and Fruit: Protein “Marker Events” as Probes

  • Gregory A. Lang
Part of the NATO ASI Series book series (volume 35)

Abstract

The cultivated pepper, Capsicum spp., is a major horticultural crop worldwide. The most generally grown species is C. annuum, which includes bell, chili, jalapeno, pepperoncini, wax, pimento, cayenne, and cherry peppers, among others (Smith et al., 1987). However, the second-most valuable pepper in the U.S. (on a dollar per ton basis [Andrews, 1984]) is the tabasco pepper, C. frutescens, a short-lived perennial plant of the tropics which is grown in Louisiana and used for making hot pepper sauce. One striking difference between most cultivated C. annuum cultivars and C. frutescens ‘Tabasco’ is the site of the mature fruit abscission zone (AZ): abscission occurs at the pedicel/stem AZ in C. annuum and at the pedicel/receptacle AZ in C. frutescens. Abscission at the pedicel/receptacle is desirable for the pepper sauce process, since there is no attached pedicel to be ground up with the harvested fruit.

Keywords

Ethylene Treatment Abscission Zone Leaf Abscission Fruit Abscission Ethylene Release 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1989

Authors and Affiliations

  • Gregory A. Lang
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of HorticultureLouisiana State UniversityBaton RougeUSA

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