*2.1. Plant Materials and Growth Conditions*

The parental lines of *C. annuum* KC352 and 14F6002-14 were provided by pepper and breeding institute (Gimje, Korea), respectively. A total of 94 F2 individual lines were derived from a cross between KC352 and 14F6002-14. The pepper plants used for the experiment were grown at National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science (NIHHS, Wanju, Korea, 35◦83 N, 127◦03 E) under glasshouse conditions where temperature was controlled to 26/18 ◦C (day/night), and relative humidity (RH) was within 60–70%. The soil in pots was prepared as previously described in [53]. In brief, the commercial media (Bio Sangto, Seoul, Korea) was composed of coco peat (47.2%), peat moss (35%), vermiculite (10.0%), zeolite (7%), dolomite (0.6%), humectant (0.006%), and fertilizers (0.194%, 270 mg kg−<sup>1</sup> N, P, and K), respectively.
