Capsicum chinense (Umorok) Hottest chilli of the earth
is a Putative Naturally Occurring Inter-specific Hybrid

Senjam Jinus Singh *

The line-up for World's Hottest Chilli

The north-eastern region of India claims that the chilli peppers grown in this region are the hottest in the world. Genetic resources of chilli pepper landraces in north-eastern India have not been well documented, but a few names mentioned include 'Naga Jolokia', 'Bhoot Jolokia', and 'Bih Jolokia'.

In recent year, the traditional crop of Manipur in Northeast India, the Naga King chilli (Bhoot Jolokia or Naga Jolokia) locally called U-morok is giving importance in the scientific community as it was reported to be the hottest chilli in the world. Besides, Manipur, the crop is also traditionally cultivated in Nagaland, Assam and other North-eastern States of the country.

In Assam, this type of chilli is popularly known as Bhoot Jolokia or Bih Jolokia. These two terms are now popularly found in the present-day scientific literature. The Assamese word "Bhoot" refers to the typical large pod size of the plants, while the term "Bih" means "poison" indicating the high hotness in the fruits of the plant.

The term "Bhoot Jolokia" could not be translated into English as "Ghost chilli" as was explained by many researchers. Because of its great hotness it is also popularly known as Saga Jolokia (Saga chilli), Indian mystery chilli, Indian rough chilli, etc.

The potentiality of Naga king chilli or Bhoot Jolokia was first reported from Tezpur district of Assam, in 2000 and the tremendous hotness was analysed in the Defence Research Laboratory situated in Tezpur. As a result of this declaration of the hotness in term of Scoville Heat Units (SHUs), the world champion Red Savmo Habanero (Capsicum chinense) of Mexico with a heat level of 577,000 SHUs was pushed back to the second position.

Initially this fact was questioned in the scientific forum and finally following careful scientific procedures to analyse the hotness of Naga king chilli, Dr. Paul W Bosland and co­workers of North Mexico State University, USA reported a rating of 1,001,304 SHUs in 2005. They used a well calibrated High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method to determine the capsainoid level of prepared sample of Naga king chilli.

The ppm concentration was later on connected into SHUs by multiplying it with a conversion factor of 15. After this confirmation the million scoville Naga king chilli was certified by Guinness world records as the hottest chilli of the earth in September 2006.

The hot flavour of chillies is due to the presence of a group of seven closely related compounds called capsaicinoids, but capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) and dihydrocapsaicin are responsible for approx. 90% of the pungency.

Chilli hotness is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHUs) which is originally a subjective measure but today, chilli hotness is mlJre frequently determined by HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography), whose results can be correlated to traditional Scoville ratings: the conversion generally accepted is that 15 Scoville units is equal to 1 ppm capsaicin plus capsaicinoids.

In traditional medicinal practices, patients of asthma get relief by regular use of Naga king chilli also reported. But it should be consumed in low quantities. Clinically it has already been proved that capsaicin has the ability to dilate blood vessels thus giving relief in chronic congestions. It also helps to cure cough and sore throat.

Capsaicin has the ability to influence the gastrointestinal activities in a positive way. It stimulates the secretion of saliva and gastric juice. Clinical reports also indicate that capsaicin can protect the mucous membrane of the intestine from mechanical and chemical damage.

The hot principle of capsaicin has the ability to alleviate external pain in muscle. In case of external application, capsaicin can modulate the amount of specific neurotransmitter (Called substance P) associated with the feelings of pain and ultimately can play a positive role in reducing pains.

It is also reported that the use of chilli leaves for ailments such as boils, headache and night blindness. Naga king chilli leaves might be having medicinal properties but reference to this is rare in literature.

Botanically chilli (Capsicum spp.) belongs to the family solanaceae (brinjal family) and was evolved from an unknown ancestral form in Peru-Bolivia region of the New world. There are about twenty-two wild and five cultivated species under the genus Capsicum, the cultivated species being C. annum (Meiteimorok and Haomorok); C. baccatum; C. chinense Jacq. (Umorok and Chiengpi); C. frustescens (Mashingkha and Uchithi) and C pubescens.

But there are also controversies regarding the individual species status of annum, chinense and frutescens. This was questioned by several researchers and was attributed to the facts that the wild relatives of these three species tend to show taxonomically important similarities.

But it is now accepted in the world scientific communities that Capsicum species originated in the New world and therefore could also be described as a misnomer. This particular species was so named by the Dutch botanist Nikolaus Joseph Von Jacquin (1727-1817) as he collected the seeds of these plants from China, thus having a concept that this type of chilli might have originated in China.

At the time of first discovery of the tremendous hotness of Naga king chilli in the year 2000, it was reported that Bhoot Jolokia belongs to Capsicum frutescens, but controversies were observed for the basis of this classification.

Many researchers in this field reported that it is not possible to produce such a record making hotness by the member of frustescens and finally based on morphological characters it was confirmed that Naga king chilli is a member of chinense species.

Based on molecular marker study using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Bosland and co-workers concluded that there is possibility of genetic introgression from Capsicum frutescens into Naga king chilli species (c. chinense). Thus from the study, it could also be envisaged that Naga chilli is an interspecific hybrid between chinense and frutescens.