The BRS Acará rootstock is a hybrid developed by Embrapa to protect bell pepper plants in soils infested with pathogens that cause bacterial wilt, late blight and galls in the roots. Its use allows pepper producers in protected cultivation to have access to seedlings grafted with high vigor, with preserved quality of the fruits of the commercial hybrids grafted, without alteration of flavor and with high compatibility with different grafts (commercial hybrids of pepper) guaranteeing the health of the plants and high fruit productivity.

BRS Acará is a rootstock for cultivation in a protected environment, whose management has to follow the recommendations of the hybrid cultivar to be grafted in each specific region of production, and it is recommended for all Brazilian bell pepper-producing regions, including those that are subject to infestation by bacteria of the Ralstonia complex, which causes bacterial wilt; to the oomycete Phytophthora capsici, which causes phytophthora wilt; and gall nematodes (Meloidogyne incognita race 1 and Meloidogyne javanica), since the rootstock is resistant to those pathogens.

In addition, the use of rootstock with multiple resistance to the main soil pathogens that affect bell pepper crops is the safest and most efficient method of disease control, avoiding the use of pesticides and impacts on the environment.

In the validation tests, the commercial bell pepper hybrids grafted on the BRS Acará had a yield above 30% when compared to their respective free feet, that is, in comparison with hybrids planted directly in the soil, without using rootstock.

The development of the hybrid bell pepper rootstock BRS Acará had the support of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - CNPq and is registered in the National Register of Cultivars (RNC) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and its lineages are protected by the National Cultivar Protection Service (SNPC).