Early researchers mainly focused on the molecular mechanisms and postharvest physiology of capsanthin (Popovsky and Paran, 2000; Ha et al., 2007). There was very little research addressing the effects of environmental factors (such as drought stress) on capsanthin accumulation. Soil drought is one of the major factors limiting agricultural development in major producing areas of southwestern and northwestern China (Zhao and Running, 2010). With the development of the food and cosmetics industries comes an increased demand for natural pigments, although the gap between production and consumption is growing. In addition to breeding varieties with a high content of capsanthin, environmental factors affecting capsanthin synthesis have not been appreciated. Keeping in mind the importance of the capsanthin pigment, the present study was designed to examine the effects of drought stress on fruit capsanthin content.