Sweet pepper production in substrate in response to salinity, nutrient solution management and training system

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the marketable fruit yield of sweet pepper plants (Capsicum annuum cv. Orlando) in function of the management of nutrient solution with training system. Plants were grown on coconut coir dust under greenhouse conditions in the southeast of Spain. A randomized block design in split-split plot with four blocks was used to test the effect of the nutrient solution strength (full or half-strength Hoagland nutrient solution), training system (two and three stems per plant) and water salinity (saline and non-saline) on total and marketable yield, fruit quality, and fruit mineral concentration. Salt treatment decreased fruit yield by decreasing the fruit fresh weight but not the number of fruits per plant. Under saline and non-saline conditions, the higher yield of fruits was obtained in plants watered with half-strength Hoagland solution, and grown with three stems per plant. Blossom end rot incidence increased under saline conditions or using full-strength Hoagland solution, but decreased with the combination of half-strength Hoagland solution and three-stem training system. Salt treatment also decreased fruit quality in all the treatments due to a decrease in PO2-, SO4(2-), Fe2+;3+, Cu1+;2+ and Mn2+ concentrations, and fruit shape index. Likewise, plants exposed to salinity and watered with half-strength Hoagland solution and trained with three stems showed a reduction in juice glucose and fructose concentration. Based on these results, an increase of the marketable fruit yield could be obtained under non or moderate saline conditions with the implementation of suitable culture practices.

USE OF SALINE WATER FOR GREENHOUSE BELL PEPPER (<i>CAPSICUM ANNUUM</i>) PRODUCTION

“…The marketable fresh fruit yield with the use of saline water was 71% of the total fresh fruit yield, while it was 99% when non-saline water was used. The results obtained in this study are in close agreement with the report of Rubio et al (2011), who obtained marketable fruit yield of about 85% from the total fruit yield under non-saline conditions, whereas under saline conditions, it was between 55 and 76%. Also, previously, the reduction in marketable yield in pepper plants was mainly attributed to BER disease incidence (Silber et al, 2005) caused by increased salinity in the root medium (Rubio et al, 2009).…”

“…Saline water use caused a greater reduction in the marketable fresh fruit yield (from 5.47 to 2.60 kg m -2 ) than the total fresh fruit yield (from 5.54 to 3.66 kg m -2 ). Similar results were reported by Rubio et al (2010;2011) who recorded lower marketable fruit yield from the saline water treatment (4.6 dS m -1 ) when compared to control (2.6 dS m -1 ). The lower fruit yield obtained by using saline water was mainly due to build up of soil Science Publications AJABS salinity, since water quality exhibited an overriding effect on soil Electrical Conductivity (EC).…”

“…Also, previously, the reduction in marketable yield in pepper plants was mainly attributed to BER disease incidence (Silber et al, 2005) caused by increased salinity in the root medium (Rubio et al, 2009). Although the mechanisms leading to BER disease incidence under saline conditions in pepper are not clear, generation of oxygen free radicals in the apoplast (Aktas et al, 2005;Turhan et al, 2006) and poor Ca 2+ status during rapid fruit expansion (Rubio et al, 2011) were suggested to be the contributing factors.…”

Heterogeneous salinity in the root system of bell pepper in greenhouse

“…Studies conducted by various authors have demonstrated that the reduction in fruit yield in bell pepper subjected to saline stress results from the decrease in the mean fruit weight and/or reduction in the number of fruits per plant (Arruda et al, 2011;Rubio et al, 2011;Rameshwaran et al, 2015), because fruits are the most sensitive organs to salinity (Azuma et al, 2010) due to the deleterious effects of saline stress on the increase of abortion rate, caused by the reduction in the number and viability of pollen grains (Ghanem et al, 2009).…”

A Study on the Physical and Hydraulic Characteristics of Cocopeat Perlite Mixture as a Growing Media in Containerized Plant Production

“…Later he suggested that coir dust was renamed to cocopeat as this material has many characteristic of horticultural peat. This coconut coir dust or cocopeat is widely used for containerized growing medium for the production of ornamental potter plants (Bagci et al 2011;Scagel 2003;Tariq et al 2012) and other horticultural species (Ayesha et al 2011;Erwan et al 2013;Rubio et al 2011;Tehranifar et al 2007).…”