Germination of habanero pepper seeds as a function of variety, fruit storage, extraction method and seed storage.

Abstract

Recently, habanero peppers have gained prominence in the production of sauces, pastes and other food products. Due to the high demand for these peppers, it becomes even more necessary to obtain quality seeds to obtain greater productivity. Several factors can influence seed quality, so using logistic regression models to predict the percentage of seed germination can bring important results about the best production conditions. The present work aimed to compare logistic regression models using the ROC curve methodology to evaluate the germination capacity of habanero pepper seeds. The factors evaluated were: variety (Mayapán and Calakmul), fruit storage period (1, 7, and 14 days), extraction method (manual and mechanical), and seed storage period (3, 6, 9, and 12 months). According to the AIC criterion and the area under the ROC curve, the best model was the one with interaction between “variety”, “seed storage”, and “fruit storage”, without the “extraction method” factor. The model allowed to determine the chance of germination from the combination of these factors.