NuMex Bailey Piquin

This cultivar, released in 1991, was named in honor of Mr. Alton L. Bailey, NMSU Extension vegetable specialist emeritus, who helped evaluate this selection (Bosland & Iglesias, 1992). This machine-harvestable chile piquin originated as a single plant selection from an open-pollinated accession collected in the Caribbean area of Mexico. It has an upright, semi-determinant, and non-spreading plant growth and produces fruits that are upright and set high on the plant canopy. ‘NuMex Bailey Piquin’ is the first machine-harvestable piquin. It is homozygous for the deciduous fruit characteristic allowing fruit separation from the calyx at maturity. This trait allows the fruit to be shaken from the plant by a machine. A one-row harvester has been developed; it shakes the plant and an attached conveyor belt carries the fruits to the rear of the machine for collection. Dried fruit powder has a heat level of 97,000 SHU. In trials at Las Cruces, dry fruit yield averaged 3,984 lbs/acre.