Hot Pepper Production Research Articles

Water relations, growth, yield, and fruit quality of hot pepper under deficit irrigation and partial rootzone drying

We compared two water-saving irrigation practices, deficit irrigation (DI) and partial rootzone drying (PRD), for their effects on growth and quality of ‘Ancho St. Luis’ hot pepper ( Capsicum annum L.). The treatments were: commercial irrigation (CI) considered as the control, irrigating both sides of the rootzone with half of the volume of CI considered as DI, and alternating irrigation between two sides of the rootzone with half the volume of CI at each irrigation time considered as PRD. Midday leaf water potentials of PRD and DI plants were lower by 0.15 and 0.30 MPa, respectively, than of CI plants from 130 days after sowing. Total fresh mass of fruit was reduced by 19 and 34.7% in PRD and DI, respectively, compared to CI. Fruit number per plant was reduced by more than 20% in PRD and DI compared to CI. Total dry mass of fruit was similar among the treatments. At harvest, DI fruit had 21% higher total soluble solids concentration and better colour development than other treatments. Although incidence of blossom-end rot was high in PRD and DI fruit, more than 80% of fruit from PRD was not affected. DI and PRD saved 170 and 164 l of water, respectively, compared to CI and they could be feasible irrigation strategies for hot pepper production where the benefit from saving water outweighs the decrease in total fresh mass of fruit.

An improved water use efficiency for hot pepper grown under controlled alternate drip irrigation on partial roots

Hot pepper plants were grown in pots with their roots divided and established in two separate containers. Water was applied through a drip irrigation system in three ways: alternate drip irrigation on partial roots (ADIP), fixed drip irrigation on partial roots (FDIP), even drip irrigation on whole roots (EDIW). For each irrigation method, water was applied when the soil moisture content was below either 65 or 55% of the field capacity. Results showed that when irrigation started at 65% of the field capacity ADIP significantly increased the root/shoot ratio compared to all the other treatments. When irrigating at this moderate (i.e. 65% of the field capacity) soil moisture level, ADIP did not significantly inhibit leaf photosynthesis, but did markedly restrict stomatal opening. Compared to EDIW, there was a relatively small reduction in biomass for ADIP, but the reduction for FDIP was significant. Surprisingly, ADIP maintained high yield with up to 40% reduction in irrigation compared to EDIW and FDIP. Moreover, the maximum yields and best water use efficiency occurred in ADIP and rewatering at 65% level at the same time. FDIP did not show better results than the controls because the yield was considerably reduced. In conclusion, ADIP is an effective and water-saving irrigation method in hot pepper production and may have the potential to be used in the field.

Studi Potensi Heterobeltiosis pada Persilangan Beberapa Galur Cabai Merah (Capsicum annuum L.)

Hybrid cultivar is one of the best alternative to increase national hot pepper production. However, lacking of local hybrid cultivars resulted in the dependency on imported expensive seeds. The objective of this research is to study heterobeltiosis potential and yield of hybrids generated from crosses of several hot pepper lines. Nine parental lines and their 19 hybrids were evaluated in field experiment at the Pasir Sarongge Experimetal Station of IPB, Cipanas, West Java, in a randomize complete block design with 3 replications. The results indicated that several crosses showed a high potential heterobeltiosis. The cross of CI034 x CI026, CI042 x CI025, dan CI042 x CI026 showed heterobeltiosis value of more than 100%. Most of the crosses revealed an excellent yield for medium fruit type the yield was about 1 kg per plant (CI034 x CIO06), and for large fruit type was 1,8 kg per plant (CI042 x CIO06), in average, which were higher than the yield of Hot Beauty, a commercial hybrid cultivar. Key words: Heterobeltiosis, Hot pepper

Agronomic potential of some agricultural wastes as surface mulches in hot pepper and tomato production in the Central Region of Ghana

Studies were carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm of the University of Cape Coast, in the minor seasons of 1992 and 1993, to assess the agronomic potential of some common agricultural wastes as surface mulches in terms of weed control, nematode population in soil, root-knot incidence and growth and yield of pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). There were six mulch treatments, namely grass, sawdust, baggasse, palm fruit fibre, chopped palm bunch, corn cob and a no-mulch control arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications in the pepper trial. Corn cob was not included in the tomato trial which was also replicated four times. Mulching promoted early flowering in both pepper and tomato probably through its reduction of soil surface temperature. Fresh weight of weeds was also significantly reduced by mulching. The degree was, however, related to type of mulch, with bagasse and chopped palm bunch as the best on account of the size and density of the aggregates and compactness of the cover. Even though mulching tended to increase population of nematodes in the soil with time, there was relatively fewer incidence of root-knots in mulched pepper and tomato than in no-mulching. With the exception of palm fruit fibre, mulching significantly increased yields of both crops with bagasse and sawdust being outstanding in this regard. Superiority of the two might derive from their capacity to soak up and conserve more moisture than the rest due to the absorbent nature of their aggregates. Analysis of the nutrient composition of the different mulching materials showed that apart from grass which contained a little more than 1 percent nitrogen, the rest were very low in nitrogen and phosphorus but high in carbon with C:N ratio of over 187:1; that would rather require application of starter fertilizer to compensate for the initial depression of nitrification. (Ghana Journal of Agricultural Science, 1997, 30(1): 45-52)

Hot pepper ( Capsicum spp.) production on Java, Indonesia: toward integrated crop management

In Indonesia, hot pepper ( Capsicum spp.) is the most important low elevation vegetable commodity in terms of production area and value. The yield levels are low (2.8 t ha −1 in 1989). Poor crop health, low quality of seed material, high production costs, fluctuating market prices, and farmers' lack of knowledge are major production constraints. Integrated crop management (ICM) is proposed to overcome major problems with crop health. ICM focuses on crop health by optimizing crop conditions. ICM seems to be a suitable approach for vegetable production under tropical lowland conditions, and should lead to ecologically, toxicologically and socio-economically sound practices,

Impacts of Different Mulching Material on Seedling Emergence and Growth Performance of Hot Pepper (Capsicum Annum L) at Gurage Zone, Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Gurage Zone at Wolkite University in 2016/17 cropping season. The field experiment was carried out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) using three replications and four treatments. The effect of different mulching material such as grass, banana, plastic and control mulch on growth parameters (plant height, germination rate, leaf number of branch per plant,) of hot pepper was conducted for three months. Data was collected and compared by using LSD at significant level of 0.05.The result showed that the highest and lowest plant height was obtained for grass mulch (T1) and control (T4) on the other hand no plant height was registered for plastic mulch. Generally, from the result of this study we recommended that farmers use of grass mulch increase the rate of hot pepper seedling and growth performance by maintain soil temperature, soil moisture and provide good air circulation with in soil spores than other mulching materials. The awareness of farmers should be increased by providing adequate training regarding with the type of appropriate mulching material, So, they can produce proper operation during the growth of paper to avoid the infestation of weed by mulching. According to analysis of variance there was significant different among treatments on the number of braches per plant and also results of the analysis of variance indicated that different mulching material were shown significantly (p>0.05) effect on plant height of pepper. However, there is no significant variation among the treatment for number of leaves. Since the recommended using vativar grass mulch until another investigation was done. This is a short term strategy; therefore, the study should be repeated over year. In order to address the significance of all the studied characters and to recommend the appropriate mulching material for further hot pepper production.