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Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) forms an indispensable adjunct in every home of tropical world as it provides a spicy taste, pungency and adds appealing colour to the food preparation. The pungency of chilli is due to an alkaloid "capsaicin" present in the placenta of fruit that has diverse prophylactic and therapeutic uses in allopathic and ayurvedic medicine. They are used against tonsillitis, diphtheria, loss of appetite, flatulence, intermittent fevers, atonic gout, rheumatism, sore throat, swelling and hardened tumours. The red colour of chilli fruit is due to presence of carotenoid pigments mainly consists of capsanthin and capsorubin (Kumar et al., 2003) but chlorophyll pigment is responsible for green colour. Transformation of fruit colour from green to red during ripening is due to transition from chloroplast to chromoplast in the exocarp (Monser and Matile, 1997). The chilli extract produced by processing of chilli is called as chilli oleoresin. The processed food industries in the West are shifting to chilli oleoresin rather than their ground form because the oleoresin offers uniform quality, longer shelf life and lesser freight charges. Further, the flavor strength can be controlled by adjusting concentration of the most significant constituents in the oleoresins. The paprika oleoresin is gaining more importance in the food industries as a natural food colour in place of synthetic colour whereas, pungent oleoresin is useful for pharmaceutical purpose. Keeping in view the market demand, chilli oleoresin has vast demand in pharmaceutical and food industry (Singh et al., 2003). Growers and processors of chilli differ in the quality criteria they apply, the former desiring high yields, lack of diseases and pests and good fruit colour and the latter favouring good appearance, storage quality, processing quality and nutritional quality. Quality components of chilli and paprika include red fruit colour, vitamin content and pungency. Colour is an important quality parameter of consumer preference. Almost all Indian recipes include red chilli powder as it imparts good colour to variety of dishes. Chilli are considered to be rich source of vitamin C, vitamin A which is important antioxidants (Howard et al., 1994). It is also a rich source of proteins, carbohydrates, sugars and minerals. Apart from this, chilli is credited with many virtues, since it has a great medicinal value (Nadakarni, 1927). They are also used for making chutney and frying with gram dal paste, for this purpose non-pungent types are preferred. Non-pungent chilli varieties have high sugar content, which are generally characterized by thick pericarp, less pungency, less seed numbers and generally medium size.