COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CAPSAICIN CONTENT IN PEPPERS (Capsicum annuum L.) GROWN IN CONVENTIONAL AND ORGANIC AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS

According to their chemical structure capsaicinoids are phenethylamine group of alkaloids and they are produced exclusively in the secondary metabolism of genus Capsicum, fam. Solanaceae. Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is economically one of the most important vegetable crop in the Republic of Macedonia. There is no methodical and long-term research in organic production of vegetables in the Republic of Macedonia until today. Still, largely speaking, there are current debates about the advantage of organic production as compared to conventional one in terms of morphology of products and especially their quality characteristics. The aim of this paper is comparative analysis of capsaicin content in fruit extracts from (Capsicum annuum L.) produced in organic and conventional cultivation systems. Pepper genotypes Strumicka Kapija, Strumicka Vezena, Piran, Zupska Rana, Duga Bela and Kurtovska Kapija were subject of this study. Methanol (≥ 99.9%)was used as capsaicin solvent for extraction of capsaicin from dried pepper fruit material. The determination of capsaicin content was performed by chromatographic analyses with High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Organically grown pepper fruits were characterized with higher capsaicin content than the conventional one. The genotype Strumicka Vezena was characterized with the highest capsaicin content in the both cultivation systems.