Peppered Personalities–A Continuing Series

Dr. Paul Bosland, Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University

By David G. Jackson, Photos by Harald Zoschke

Dr. Paul Bosland, professor of horticulture and director of the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, has a reputation as one of the top chile breeders in the world. Paul, smiling and soft spoken, continues his work of developing new varieties of chile that overcome environmental challenges from every quarter.

Concentration at NMSU is on five breeding programs: green varieties, red varieties, paprika (used for food coloring), cayenne, and different colored ornamental varieties. The goal is to give New Mexico farmers a three-year edge on the competition because the seed will be ultimately made available to other growers, even in other countries.

The big news, according to Bosland, is that NMSU is in the final stages of developing a successor to the ‘NuMex Big Jim’ and ‘NuMex 6-4' varieties. "These chiles are among the most popular for home use," he said, "and tens of thousands of sacks of these varieties are grown and shipped all over the U.S. by growers in the Hatch, Mesilla, Pecos, and Mimbres valley farms. These perennial favorites need to have new seed stocks to remain a viable product."

Other new varieties include ‘NuMex Nematador’ cayenne which resists nematodes, a small worm that infests the roots of a chile plant. causing the leaves to turn yellow. Nematodes are primarily are a problem in cayenne chile, of which New Mexico is a major producer. ‘NuMex Garnet’ is a paprika with a very intense red coloring with no heat. Paprika, the Hungarian word for chile, is used to make both the liquid and dry powder coloring. This paprika coloring has replaced most red food dyes once used in the food industry. "‘NuMex Suave Red’ and ‘NuMex Suave Orange’ are very mild habaneros that are primarily for home gardeners, with seeds available through the Chile Pepper Institute," said Paul.

Developing a new variety of chile is exacting work that takes years. The goal is carefully reviewed and analyzed. About 1,000 varieties of chile from all over the world are grown in NMSU greenhouses in order to maintain a gene pool. Plants that resist diseases, insects, and other problems common to chile are bred with a given variety and the results carefully measured. Eventually, through traditional selective breeding, a variety is developed that meets the requirements and is planted and carefully cultivated until enough seed is obtained for a major planting. The seed sequence is from breeder, to foundation, to registered, to certified seed. Most crops are grown from certified seed. To develop a new variety, the foundation fields must be at least one mile from any other chile field; registered seed must be grown in a field at least a half mile from other chile fields. NMSU has about three acres of chile plants that are used for the breeding and genetics program in addition to about 225 acres near the campus for crop use. The New Mexico Crop Improvement Association assists in growing the seed plants and approves of the fields used for seed. Some seed plants are grown out of state.

Paul continues to work on problems in the New Mexico chile industry in cooperation with the New Mexico Chile Task Force. "2002 was a good year for chile in the state," said Paul. The weather was right and we had great crops of cayenne and long green peppers. However, water will be a major concern until the drought breaks. Elephant Butte Reservoir is at a record low and the amount of water available for crops will depend on the winter snowpack. Mechanical harvesting continues to improve for jalapeños and red chile pods. Some companies are doing up to 85% of their harvest with machines. The cayenne growers continue to do well and the market for pepper mash is increasing. It is less expensive to grow cayenne and process it in New Mexico and ship it world wide," Paul explained.

Paul is the director of the Chile Pepper Institute at NMSU, which addresses a number of problems in the chile industry including international issues. One of the Institute’s major functions is to sponsor the annual International Chile Conference, held on February 3-4, 2003 at the Hilton Hotel in Las Cruces. Scientific papers, reports, and poster board sessions provide extensive information on current research to improve chile production. "This conference has become one of the top meetings for chile growers, processors, and scientists from throughout the world attending. Anybody who is somebody in chile business attends. It is great place to network," said Paul.

The keynote speaker for the 2003 conference is Mike Herrington, executive director of the Western Association of Agriculture Experiment Station Directors at Colorado State University. His topic is agroterrorism, particularly as it might relate to chile crops. Conference organizers stressed that chile products are part of the nation’s food industry and share the risk of contamination or other forms of damage. "Our object is not to scare growers and producers," said Paul, "but to let people that work is being done on this potential problem. Many scientists at NMSU are working on these problems. We are part of the new Homeland Agriculture Security Taskforce. There are many new responsibilities for the region’s agricultural colleges and agricultural experimental stations," he said.

"And," as Paul explains, "I am still a professor and I work closely with my graduate students in their masters and doctorate programs. I have had students from all over the world; currently I have graduate students from Hungary, Nepal, and Senegal. It is a good feeling to see these students develop into scientists who will help to solve some of the world’s food production problems."

Paul recently won a distinguished Regents Professorship, an award that recognizes faculty who have made outstanding contributions to the university’s mission as a land-grant university. The award carries an annual $12,500 stipend. Paul, in addition to developing numerous varieties of ‘NuMex’ chiles, is the coauthor of The Pepper Garden and Peppers of the World.

The NMSU Chile Pepper Institute’s website is located at www.chilepepperinstitute.org and the telephone number is 505-646-3028.

Peppered Personality last time: Janie & Fernando (Cross Country Nurseries)

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