Viral infection induced alterations in phytochemical constituents of Capsicum annum fruit

Capsicum annum, one of the important off-season vegetable crops of Himachal Pradesh, commonly known as Shimla Mirch or sweet pepper contains phytochemicals and bioactive compounds that play an important role in plant defence responses. In order to assess the effect of viral diseases on phytochemical constituents of Capsicum fruit, the diseased crop samples were collected from different locations of Himachal Pradesh. Significant variation in all studied constituents i.e. carotenoids, ascorbic acid, total phenols and flavonoids was observed in infected samples over control. The range of values observed in carotenoid, ascorbic acid, phenol and flavonoid content were 5.7–63.8 mg/100 g, 191.2–210.2 mg/100g, 20.0–37.3 mg/100g and 11.5–19.0 mg/100g, respectively.