ICP-MS based analysis of mineral elements composition during fruit development in Capsicum germplasm

Capsicum fruits are rich sources of mineral nutrients with several health benefits. However, a thorough investigation of mineral elements in Capsicum fruits at green, breaker and mature developmental stages in comparatively larger germplasm has not been reported yet. This study reports profiling of 9 mineral elements i.e. Mg, P, K, Ca, B, Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn in 20 Capsicum accessions belonging to Capsicum annuum, C. chinense and C. frutescens from Northeast India. Briefly, the highest content of P (1798 ± 39) and K (7560 ± 76 mg 100g−1) at the green and breaker stages of Capsicum accession Acc-Ca9, Fe (13 ± 2) and Zn (4 ± 0.1) at the breaker stage of Acc-Ca2; and Cu at the mature stage of Acc-Cc2 (3 ± 0.4) and Acc-Cc3 (3.4 ± 0.04 mg 100g−1) were observed and showed significant differences (p < 0.001) between the developmental stages. Overall, with fruit maturation, the K content increased in C. frutescens while K and P content decreased in C. chinense and C. annuum. Statistical analysis showed significant correlations (p < 0.01) among mineral elements in the three fruit development stages. The data from this study suggests that accessions having high mineral content can be used as rich sources of dietary mineral nutrients and potential donors for biofortification of Capsicum crops.