Ideotype concept in black pepper (Piper nigrum L.)

Abstract

An attempt has been made to describe the crop ideotype characteristics for black pepper (Piper nigrum). It is proposed that the black pepper ideotype should have acute branch angles (450) at the top and more wider branch angles at the bottom (600). The fruiting branches should be well spread from top to bottom of the canopy. To harvest maximum light especially by the bottom canopy, the leaf angle should be more at the bottom (130-1400) compared to the top (100-1100). It is desirable that within a branch, the bottom leaves have lengthier petioles than the top leaves. The vine should have a high photosynthetic rate (minimum of 3.0–3.5 μ moles), more than 90% bisexual flowers with >95% self pollination, increased spike length (≥12 cm) and more number of berries spike-1 (≥70). Fruit set should be ≥80% and should yield at least 2.5–3.0 kg dry berries vine-1. Among the cultivars/varieties studied, Panniyur 1 was found to possess more number of traits for the proposed ideotype compared to other cultivars/varieties.