ABSTRACT
Germplasm collection is extremely important in pepper breeding. The diversity of genetic resources is utilized to add new traits, particularly resistance to new diseases and alternative resistance sources for existing diseases (Fig. 2-1). Besides for crop improvement, germplasm also plays an important role in various types of scientifi c research, such as elucidating the evolution and classifi cation of Capsicum species and in understanding the biology and biochemistry of peppers. The USDA-ARS in Griffin (Georgia, USA) and AVRDC-The World Vegetable Center based in Taiwan has the largest collections of Capsicum germplasm and they are active in characterizing, evaluating and curating their collections. AVRDC has a total of 7,726 accessions of Capsicum spp. as of September 2006 (www.avrdc.org), and the USDA-ARS has more than 4,700 accessions of 16 Capsicum taxa in its active collection program in Griffi n (Stoner 2004). These two organizations also maintain databases for their collections and distribute seeds to pepper researchers and breeders all over the world. Other institutions, universities, government or non-government organizations and private seed companies have various scales of Capsicum germplasm collections (Berke and Engle 1997). The germplasm of Capsicum in at least 15 countries has been reported in the Capsicum and Eggplant Newsletter (CENL) for the past 20 years (1983-2002).
