Recent evidence for antitumor activity of carotenoids in humans has revived interest in these compounds in foods, nutrition, and medicine. A wide variation in carotenoid content was found among various Capsicum genotypes. The total carotenoid content was generally higher in C. annuum lines than in the accessions from other species. In contrast with the wide variation found in the content of the major carotenoids, the proportions of individual carotenoids within the total content and the ratios among them showed much less variation. The coefficients of variation for the ratios ranged from 8 to 35% in comparison with 70-90% for the carotenoid content. Significant correlations were found among the concentrations of the major carotenoids. Increasing the carotenoid concentration in high-pigment fruits of paprika by genetic manipulation improved not only the quality of the fruit as a source of food colorant but also its nutritive value. The breeding line 4126 contains about 240 mg of carotenoids/100 g of fresh weight, of which 20 mg is β-carotene