Morphological Characterization and Evaluation of Local Black Pepper (Piper nigrum L.) Genotypes for Yield and Quality under Arecanut Based Cropping System

Twenty two black pepper genotypes were characterized morphologically and evaluated for growth yield and quality parameters under arecanut based cropping system during 2015-16 in Uttara Kannada (Dist.), Karnataka. Among them, var. Panniyur-1(control), SV-18 and SV-21 showed light green shoot tip colour, whereas,SV-6, 16, 17 had dark purple while, others had light purple colour. The maximum spike length (20.60cm) was recorded in var. Panniyur-1 followed by SV-12 and SV-20 (17.30cm each). The var. Panniyur-1 showed significantly highest fresh spike yield (24.23kg/vine), fresh berry yield (22.84kg/vine) and dry berry yield (8.22kg/vine).However, yield components viz., number of spikes per unit area, number of spikes per 100 leaves, individual spike weight differed statistically. Among the quality attributes, the bulk density was recorded at a maximum (650g/l) in the genotype SV-15 followed by SV-14 (627.67g/l). The essential oil content was found highest in var. Panniyur-1, SV-7, 2 and SV-16 (2.80% each).Whereas oleoresin was maximum (10.74%) in SV-7. However, the highest piperine content (5.50%) was recorded in genotype SV-15 and next best in SV-7 (5.49%).