Horticultural Aspects, Uses, and Composition of Piquin Pepper Plants [Capsicum annuum L. var. Glabriusculum (Dunal) Heiser y Pickersgill]

In Mexico, piquin peppers [Capsicum annuum L. var. glabriusculum (Dunal) Heiser y Pickersgill] are highly valued horticultural products that have not been fully domesticated due to seed sterility, phenotypic and genetic variability, and disease susceptibility, among other problems. Currently, most of the commercialized piquin peppers are obtained from the collection of wild specimens causing wild populations of piquin pepper plants to be severely reduced due to overexploitation. In recent years a number of the domestication problems have been successfully overcome, and Piquin peppers can be considered a new crop. The objective of this work is to present a thorough review of horticultural aspects including phenology, propagation,irrigation, and pest management aspects. In addition, an overview of composition, and uses of piquin peppers in Mexico is also presented.