Yield quality response (YQR) of pepper under variable water application using micro-sprinkler system

Abstract

Yield quality response of pepper (Capsicum annum) under variable water application was examined during two off-seasons of 2007/08 and 2008/09 at the Agricultural Engineering Research Farm of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. The crop was irrigated using micro-sprinkler system that allowed three treatments 1, 2, 3 at 0.5 WR (water requirements) of pepper, 0.75 WR, and 1 WR respectively. The experiment was repeated twice and irrigation was carried out at 3-day interval. Soil and agronomic measurements were carried out at each treatment during the experiments while moisture content was monitored weekly using gravimetric method. Measurements made included leaf area index (LAI) and crop yield (results not shown), plant height (PH), fruit number (FN), fruit length (FL) and Fruit Width (FW). Results showed that the growth of pepper were not statistically different among treatments at the 5% level of significance. Plant height responded positively to increased water application and thus influencing yield positively. Yield of pepper was highest at the highest water application, ranging from 20.1 t/ha (2007/08) to 21.1 t/ha (2008/09); fruit number ranged between 21 to 19 for the highest treatment in 2007/08 and 2008/09 respectively while fruit length and fruit width also increased with increasing water application. It was then concluded that variations in water application might significantly influence yield quality such as fruit number, fruit length and fruit width at harvest. Variable irrigation water application for field grown pepper is therefore recommended for higher and better quality yields.