Carotenoids rich paprika cultivars

Abstract

Paprika cultivars being characterized by fruits having total carotenoids content higher than 10 mg/g dry fruit weight and a branching pattern suitable for mechanical harvesting and methods and systems generating same.

1 . A method of generating a paprika plant having high carotenoids content using plant breeding techniques which employ a paprika plant, or its parts, as a source of plant breeding material, the method comprising utilizing paprika plants  Capsicum annuum  cv. Lehava and  Capsicum annuum  line 4126 as a source of breeding material.  
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plant breeding techniques are selected from the group consisting of recurrent selection, backcrossing, pedigree breeding, restriction fragment length polymorphism enhanced selection, genetic marker enhanced selection, and transformation.  
   
   
       3 . A system for developing a paprika plant having a high carotenoids content using plant breeding techniques, the system comprising paprika plants  Capsicum annuum  cv. Lehava and  Capsicum annuum  line 4126 or parts of said paprika plants as a source of the breeding material.  
   
   
       4 . A method of generating a paprika plant having high carotenoids content using plant breeding techniques which employ a paprika plant, or its parts, as a source of plant breeding material, the method comprising utilizing paprika plants  Capsicum annuum  cv. 1056 and/or 1057, representative seeds thereof having been deposited under ATCC Accession Nos: PTA-5147 and/or PTA-5148, respectively, as a source of breeding material.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the plant breeding techniques are selected from the group consisting of recurrent selection, backcrossing, pedigree breeding, restriction fragment length polymorphism enhanced selection, genetic marker enhanced selection, and transformation.  
   
   
       6 . A system for developing a paprika plant having a high carotenoids content using plant breeding techniques, the system comprising paprika plants  Capsicum annuum  cv. 1056 and/or 1057, representative seeds thereof having been deposited under ATCC Accession Nos: PTA-5147 and/or PTA-5148, respectively, or parts of said paprika plants as a source of the breeding material.