EVALUATION OF PAPRIKA PEPPER COLOR BY TRI ESTIMULUS COLORIMETRY

The colour of paprika pepper obtained from eight paprika cultivars dev eloped by the Centro Regional de Investigaciones Agrarias (CRIA, Murci a), four of them with chlorophyll retainers genes and differing in the content. of red and yellow pigments, and also in their visual colours , was evaluated by ASTA traditional method and by direct measurement o f colour reflection. The cultivars with chlorophyll retainers genes, p resented in the reflection spectra a relative minimum at 670 nm. Using CIE Yxy and CIELAB systems, the cultivars with less yellow xantophill es content and higher concentration in red pigment were markedly dista nt from those with chlorophyll; this difference could be used to compl ement the method of extraction to evaluate the colour of the paprika p epper.