Accessions of Capsicum maintained in germplasm banks are important not only for diversity preservation but also for plant breeding purposes. In this work the genetic divergence among Capsicum spp. accessions, were studied to verify the efficiency of dissimilarity measures and to discriminate genotypes in species, based on 13 multicategoric variables. The experiment was conducted in Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, in randomized blocks with three replications testing 59 accessions, ten plants per plot, from November, 2001 to July, 2002. The following descriptors were considered: cotyledoneus leaf color; stem color, anther color; corolla color; number of flowers per axil; flower position; plant growth habit; fruit color at intermediate stage; fruit color at mature stage; fruit shape; fruit surface; seed color; number of locules; calyx annular constriction, and neck at base of fruit. The data were collected using mode of each descriptor following the IPGRI (1995) criteria. The data were analyzed according to Tocher optimization method, Nearest Neighbor, distance plotted in plain and discriminant analysis. Qualitative traits analyzed by Tocher's method were efficient to differentiate among the species C. annuum var. annuum, C. annuum var. glabriusculum, C. chinense, and C. pubescens. This result confirms that qualitative descriptors considered essential for morphological and agronomic characterization must be used in germplasm bank management. Tocher's method and Nearest Neighbor methods and distance plotted in plain showed resemblance and were efficient in clustering accessions with small genetic distance among them. Using functions of Anderson's discriminant analysis it was possible to identify 100% of species and botanic variety used in this study.
Capsicum spp; germplasm bank; multivariate analysis
