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New Zealand Journal of Crop and

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Peppers: Vegetable and Spice

Capsicums, 2nd edition, by Paul W.
Bosland and Eric J. Votava
a
R Pathirana
a
New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Ltd
Published online: 22 May 2013.

To cite this article: R Pathirana (2013) Peppers: Vegetable and Spice Capsicums, 2nd edition, by
Paul W. Bosland and Eric J. Votava, New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 41:2,
102-103, DOI: 10.1080/01140671.2012.745161

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 New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 2013
Vol. 41, No. 2, 102
103, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01140671.2012.745161
BOOK REVIEW
Peppers: Vegetable and Spice Capsicums, 2nd
edition, by Paul W. Bosland and Eric J.
Votava. Crop Production Science in Horticul-
Downloaded by [University of Connecticut] at 18:00 03 December 2013
ture Series 22. Wallingford, UK, CABI, 2012.
248 pp, £45.00/US$85.00/t60.00 (paperback).
ISBN 9781845938253
The genus Capsicum was one of the earliest
crops to be domesticated in the New World and
introduced to Europe by Columbus. He is also
credited for creating the misnomer, by naming
the new plant ‘pepper’, simply because it was as
pungent as black pepper, Piper nigrum, from
the Piperaceae of the Old World. This mis-
nomer is carried forward in the title and
throughout this book. The authors clarified
this in the extension to the title, reflecting the
history of this ancient crop. Discussing one of
the most widely cultivated vegetable and spice
crops worldwide and a major constituent in
food products, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics,
this book, covering many general aspects of
capsicum, will be welcomed by many growers,
extension workers, food technologists and stu-
dents as well as the general public with an
interest in agriculture or food. Therefore, it is
timely that a revised second edition of the book
has been published. Although the organisation
of the book remains unchanged from that of
the first edition, the authors have revised this
second edition by the inclusion of new pub-
lished knowledge, as seen from more than 100
publications cited that appeared after 2000. The
references to the classical memoirs of pre-
Columbian Spanish explorers as well as more
recent key publications used in the original
edition have been retained. The book provides
a good introduction and an overview of capsi-
cum taxonomy, botany, production in both
open fields and in greenhouses, and its value as
a food crop. It also covers the many problems
that growers have to deal with, arising from
both environmental and biotic factors.
The book is divided into 10 chapters. In the
introduction, the authors review the history of
the crop from domestication to current produc-
tion trends, ethnobotany, nutritional value and
its medicinal uses. The current production
trends given in the first two tables show the
importance of capsicum even now in its centre
of origin, and beyond, in Asia, Europe and
Africa. Since the publication of their original
book, the authors note a 53% increase in
production worldwide, further justifying this
second revised edition. With 32 wild and five
cultivated species and many morphological
types, as expected from its long history of
domestication, taxonomy of capsicum is com-
plicated and confusing. Two basic chromosome
numbers within the genus confound these issues
and the authors rightly point out the need to
realign the taxonomy of the genus. The incred-
ible complexity and diversity of the genus, due
to at least five species in cultivation, has been
professionally dealt with from a horticultural
perspective in a section separate from a discus-
sion of breeding. Unfortunately, the authors
use the term pod to describe the capsicum fruit,
which is botanically not correct. A solanaceous
fruit is a berry, whereas Fabaceae fruit is
classified as a pod. The genetic resources
section has been updated, but the link given
to the USDA collection on page 37 unfortu-
nately has a typographical error. There is only
a passing mention of the AVRDC global
collection.

Considering the value of seeds in capsicum
production, a separate chapter with seeds as the
main theme is justified, and the sections on
pollination, seed treatments and priming give
valuable information for seed producers.
Hybrid seed production is discussed separately.
As in many other crops, the astounding rate of
advancement of biotechnology research in
capsicum cannot be covered in a book with a
broad theme such as this. Therefore, the
authors have kept this aspect very general, to
allow horticulturists and enthusiasts a basic
Downloaded by [University of Connecticut] at 18:00 03 December 2013
understanding of this fast-developing area of
science. Students or researchers who need
detailed information specific to capsicum bio-
technology should refer to more specialised
texts elsewhere. In contrast, the chapter on
chemical composition is quite informative,
covering the many compounds in the fresh
and processed product as well as a good
coverage of capsaicinoids, the unique com-
pounds giving the pungency to capsicum fruit.
Virtually every disease and pest that infects
capsicum is listed, with some of the control
measures.
The chapters devoted to cultivation and
harvesting are mainly accounts of intensive
production methods as practiced in the United
Book review 103
States, where the authors’ experience lies. This
also applies to the postharvest handling de-
scribed. These accounts will be useful even for
growers and processors in developing countries
who plan to intensify their processes, for
example, for the export market. Unfortunately,
these chapters have not received much attention
in the revision; for example, greenhouse pro-
duction and export statistics for 1995 for the
Netherlands are discussed in detail; many
references cited in the text have not been
included in the list of references; plant spacing
for field production is discussed in two separate
sections titled ‘seeding levels’ and ‘plant spa-
cing’; and the information given in the section
on disease in the production chapter is repeated
in the last chapter also.
This book will be a valuable addition to the
literature on capsicum, with a strong focus on
US production, although the price is slightly
high for a soft-cover edition with no colour
plates.
R Pathirana
Senior Scientist, New Zealand Institute for Plant
& Food Research Ltd
Email: ranjith.pathirana@plantandfood.co.nz
# 2013 R Pathirana