Extensive prebifurcation shooting which terminates in fruits is present in certain cultivars (e.g. Santaka) of Capsicum annuum L. Plants with such architecture setting their fruits along the periphery may therefore be expected to be suitable for mechanical harvesting. From inheritance studies (parents. F1 's and two different F2 populations) it was found that prebifurcation shooting, though a quantitative character, is controlled by relatively few genes. Few genes control main stem length and also leaf number of main stem. Correlations between the above three traits were not significant. © 1977 H. Veenman En Zonen B.V.