Impact of training methods and biostimulant applications on sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum) yield and nutritional values: Under greenhouse condition

Abstract

Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an important agricultural crop because of the nutritional value of the fruit and its economic importance. Various techniques have been practiced to enhance pepper's productivity and nutritional value. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the impact of different training methods and biostimulant applications on sweet pepper plants' growth, yield, and chemical composition under greenhouse conditions. For the training method, unpruned plants were compared with one stem and two stem plants. Unpruned plants had the fruit number of 33.98, fruit weight of 2.18 kg·plant−1, and total marketable yield of 1 090.0 kg·hm−2. One stem plant gave the best average fruit weight of 86.63 g, vitamin C content of 13.66 mg·kg−1 FW, and TSS content of 7.21%. However, two stem plants had the highest fruit setting of 62.41%, carotenoid content of 0.14 mg·kg−1 FW, and fruit chlorophyll content of 3.57 mg·kg−1 FW. For biostimulant applications, control plants were compared with the Disper Root (DR) and Disper Vital (DV). DR application significantly increased total sugar, carotenoid, fruit chlorophyll, and TSS contents compared to the control and DV applications. While, applying DV increased fruit setting, plant fruit number, weight, and total marketable yield. In addition, integrating one stem plant with the DR application improved fiber, vitamin C, and TSS contents significantly. Two stem plants, and the DV application improved fruit setting and carotenoid content. Thus, one and two stem training methods integrated with the DR and DV biostimulant applications could be considered for developing agricultural practices to obtain commercial yield and improve the nutrition values of sweet peppers, as unpruned plants without biostimulant applications have a negative impact.