Botanical characteristics

Presents plants that grow from 80 to 90 cm in the open and up to 1.8 m in protected agricultural systems (macro-tunnels and greenhouse) with tutoring, has good foliage coverage, because the open space of the crown of the Plant fluctuates from 75 to 120 cm. It has large leaves, with a length of 6.5 to 10.5 cm, and 3 to 4.2 cm wide. It has one to three flowers per node, which can give rise to the same amount of fruit, typical characteristic of the chinense species. Its flowering begins between 70 and 85 days after sowing, and its harvest of 115 to 120 days (Table 2).

Horticultural characteristics

It produces uniform fruits, of emerald green color in green seasoning, that turn bright orange in total maturity (Figure 1), very attractive for market in both stages of maturity. It has fruits with a length of 3.8 to 5.5 cm and 2.5 to 3 cm in diameter, which meet the characteristics specified in the Mexican Standard for Fresh peppers (^{CTNNPAP, 2007}). The fruit weight is 6.5 to 10 g and has very good firmness (58.3 N/cm²) (Table 2), which indicates that both the pericarp and the inner walls of the fruit have greater strength which gives it resistance to transport and good shelf life (^{Ramírez et al., 2015}).

Figure 1 Jaguar variety of Habanero: a) plant with its characteristic fruit load; and b) fruits in green seasoning and total maturity. 

Additionally, Jaguar thrives satisfactorily in clay soils, where normally other genotypes of Habanero are affected by its production. Also, the variety is perfectly adapted to the adverse environmental conditions of the tropics, such as high temperature and humidity. On the other hand, it has high tolerance to leaf miner, bacterial stain and viral diseases, main production problems of the coastal areas of the tropic and subtropics of the country.

Production characteristics of the Jaguar variety

The harvest period of the Jaguar variety can last from three to seven months in the open, and more than two years in protected agricultural conditions, depending on the supply of nutrition and phytosanitary management of the crop. The green fruit harvest can be done every 20 days, or it can be extended up to 35 to 40 days if the market demands mature fruit. The variety reaches good yields (around 15 t ha^-1) in producing areas with good weather (central-southern Veracruz, Campeche, Chiapas), or in different production systems with irrigation and medium to high technology; however, it better expresses its yield potential under drip irrigation and fertirrigation systems, where it can exceed 30 t ha^-1 of total open-pit production, and up to 43 t ha^-1 under protected agricultural conditions; while the yields of commercial and regional criollo materials oscillate between 10.8 - 26.5 and 12 - 21.7 t ha^-1, respectively. Fruit yield trials of the jaguar variety and commercial/creole controls were conducted from 2005 to 2016 under open sky/protected agriculture conditions in different locations in the states of: Campeche, Jalisco, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Yucatan.