Effect of Organic-N Fertilizer on Growth and Some Physiological Parameters in Pepper Plants (Capsicum Annum L.)

ABSTRACT

The research was carried out on pepper of “Buketen 50” and “Gorogled 6” cultivars, intended for production of red pepper for grinding. Pepper plants were grown in a phytostatic chamber under controller conditions. The plants were cultivated as soil crops. For this purpose soil from the Agroecological centre at the Agricultural University of Plovdiv (holder of a certificate for ecological farm) was used. The experiment was carried out under the following scheme: 1. Control—soil (no organic fertilizer application); 2. Soil and organic-N fertilizer application. The indicated variants were formed during the pricking of the plants in phase 2–4 true leaf. For the purpose of the experiment organic-N fertilizer Emosan (authorized for use in organic farming) was attached. The fertilizer was applied at rate equivalent to 10.0 l da⁻¹. The results indicated that, applying organic-N fertilizer gave the vigorous plants expressed as plant height, leaves size as well as dry weight in both cultivars. The increase of dry biomass was mainly for the account of the increased mass of the above the ground organs. There was a positive effect of the fertilizer upon the functional activity of the photosynthetic apparatus/increased content of photosynthetic pigments, improved leaf gas exchange.

Keywords:

• Capsicum annuum L.
• growth
• leaf gas exchange
• organic-N fertilizer
• photosynthetic pigment