The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) maintains the world’s largest public vegetable germplasm collection. The Genebank contains over 65,000 accessions and consists of more than 130 genera and 330 species. It includes around 12,000 accessions of indigenous vegetables. The WorldVeg Korea Office (WKO) has been conducting regional adaptability evaluations in the fields of the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science (NIHHS), with a focus on major solanaceous vegetable crops such as tomato, chili, and bell pepper. As climate change significantly affects vegetable crop productivity, the development of high-performing cultivars, tolerant to various abiotic and biotic stresses with enriched nutrients inside, is essential to enhance agricultural sustainability and human health. In this regard, the evaluation of growth and horticultural characteristics of pepper and tomato accessions from the WorldVeg will help contribute to the generation of new and improved cultivars, to address global challenges that affect food security, sustainability, and adaptation to climate change. Here, we summarize our activities and the results of the regional adaptability evaluation using the WorldVeg accessions of pepper and tomato germplasms.

Pre- and postharvest anthracnose fruit rot is a serious disease of hot peppers (Capsicum annuum) throughout the world. AVRDC has pursued breeding for resistance to anthracnose for more than 10 years and has distributed a number of resistant lines in Asia and Africa. Recently AVRDC has identified highly aggressive isolates of Colletotrichum acutatum that have prompted renewed efforts to identify new anthracnose resistance genes. This study aimed to characterize resistance to specific pathogen strains in an array of newly identified breeding lines, and to validate one simple sequence repeat (SSR) and two sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) markers linked to the anthracnose resistance locus. Forty-four accessions and two populations (two resistant parents and one susceptible parent, to F1, four backcross populations, and two F2 populations) are currently (Spring 2012) being screened against two pathotypes of C. acutatum collected in Taiwan. Pepper entries include C. annuum, C. baccatum, C. chinense, and their inter-specific progenies. Screening methods include field screening, spray and microinjection assays on green and red-ripe fruits, and molecular assays using SSR and SCAR markers linked to anthracnose resistance. Progress will be shared on initial screening results, evaluation of horticultural characteristics, and selection of potential lines for crossing programs.

Peppers (Capsicum spp.) with pungent (chili, hot pepper) and non-pungent (sweet pepper, bell pepper, paprika, capsicum) fruits are important spice and vegetable crops worldwide, especially in many developing countries of Asia and Africa. Among the five cultivated species of the genus Capsicum, C. annuum L. var. annuum is the most widely cultivated; over the past 25 years, AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center has focused on improving this commonly grown species. Other domesticated species also have been used as resistance sources against biotic stresses in breeding programs to improve C. annuum (for example, C. chinense and C. baccatum resistant to anthracnose). The major focus of the Center’s pepper breeding activities has been to identify and use host plant resistance to many biotic stresses, including viral (Cucumber mosaic virus, Chili veinal mottle virus, Potato virus Y, Tomato mosaic virus, geminiviruses), fungal (Phytophthora wilt, anthracnose, mildews) and bacterial (bacterial wilt, bacterial spot) diseases. The Center disseminates seeds of improved lines to cooperators in developing countries (usually public and private sector breeders), who make use of the germplasm in various ways: (i) direct release of supplied breeding lines as varieties through national varietal release procedures, (ii) reselection among the supplied populations according to local trait preferences and subsequent release as new varieties, (iii) use of supplied materials (possibly after further selection) as parental lines in hybrid breeding, and (iv) use in crosses in breeding programs. Examples from these categories will be presented.