Abstract
A capillary-irrigation system using porous membrane with different negative pressures was successfully developed and tested by growing jalapeno hot peppers. The water drawn into the root zone from this irrigation system was controlled exclusively by the plant water demand. In order to find a moderately negative pressure that is suitable for jalapeno peppers, three different negative pressure irrigations namely -0.2, -0.4, and -0.6 m were tested and compared against a conventional manual irrigation. There was no significant difference in number of leaves, plant height, and leaf area between -0.2 m negative pressure and the manual irrigation treatment, but they were significantly lower in the -0.4 m and -0.6 m treatments. A similar trend was also observed for pepper biomass yield. Moreover, pepper fruits were qualitatively analyzed for their hotness or pungency level using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that the hotness of fruits in water-starved plants were greater than in the plants receiving sufficient water. A 35% reduction in water consumption was observed in the -0.2 m treatment compared to manual irrigation. Overall, the -0.2 m capillary-irrigation had better performance in terms of growth and yield parameters when compared to manual irrigation while saving a substantial amount of water. The capillary-irrigation technique offers a precise water delivery with minimal labor requirement which is suitable for use in greenhouse pepper production and in areas with limited water supply and scarce labor.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call