International Journal of Horticulture, 2017, Vol.7, No.29, 262-274
262
Research Article Open Access
Growth and Development of Green pepper (
Capsicum annuum
L) as Influenced
by Planting Dates and Fertilizer Application in Owo, South West Nigeria
Oladitan Titilayo O.
Dept. of Crop, Soil and Pest Mgt. Technology, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Nigeria
Corresponding email
International Journal of Horticulture, 2017, Vol.7, No.29 doi
Received: 20 Oct., 2017
Accepted: 25 Oct., 2017
Published: 08 Dec., 2017
Copyright ©2017
Oladitan, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Oladitan T.O., 2017, Growth and development of green pepper (
Capsicum annuum
L) as influenced by planting dates and fertilizer application in Owo, south
west Nigeria, International Journal of Horticulture, 7(29): 262-274 (doi
Abstract
Field experiments were conducted in 2014 under rainfed and irrigation cropping to evaluate/monitor the influence of
fertilizer application and planting dates on the growth and yield of green pepper in Owo, South West Nigeria towards its production
year round. Treatment evaluated consisted of two varieties of sweet pepper (
California wonder
and
Tattasaidan-garko
), three
fertilizer types (organic, urea and organomineral) and four planting dates in each season (2-April; 12-April; 22-April and 2-May for
early season and 22-Sept.; 01-Oct.; 11-Oct. and 23-Oct. for the late season planting).These were factorially combined in a
randomized complete block design (RCBD), and replicated three times. Compared to control, OMG, ORF and Urea fertilizers
significantly (P < 0.05) increase both the growth and yield parameters. The growth and yield of the crop was favoured at the late
planting date when the soil moisture was augmented with the supplementary irrigation and on the other hand, the rainfed cropping
favours production of higher biomass, thus reducing the total harvested yield .The 02-May and 23-Oct. planting dates and the
application of OGM recorded the best growth and yield attributes. Among the varieties,
California wonder
exhibited adaptable
superior characteristics in terms of number of fruits (59.59) fruit weight (6.68 g) harvestable yield (2480.82 kg/ha). The interaction
effect showed that variety
California wonder
transplanted on 23-Oct recorded more improvement in the form of highest leaf area
(8.79 cm2), maximum number of fruits/ plant, fruit weight (86.93 g) and fruit yield (854.69 g/plant and 23.08 t/ha). The results
established that 23-Oct. is ideal for bell pepper planting and the variety
California wonder
is the most stable performing variety with
respect to the different planting dates.
Keywords
Green pepper; Planting date; Fertilizer; Variety; Yield
1 Background
Food security is defined as the physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious foods, which meet
the individual’s dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (FAO, 1996). Thus, solving food
insecurity requires a comprehensive approach that incorporates numerous fields of planning and considers a wide
range of factors, which could be socio-economic, political or environmental in nature (Dilley and Boudreau, 2001;
Vogel and Smith, 2002; Clover, 2003; Leary et al., 2007; Ericksen, 2008).
Sweet Pepper (
Capsicum annuum
L.), also known as bell pepper, green pepper, or Pimento, belong to the family
Solanaceae
(Olarewaju and Showemino, 2006; Kabura, 2008). It is a warm season annual crop when grown in
temperate regions and an herbaceous perennial when cultivated in tropical areas, Bell pepper is considered
“sweet” since it lacks the pungent chemical (capsaicin) present in hot pepper. It is an important vegetable crop all
over the world (Peet, 2006) which ranks third in the vegetable cycle after tomato and onion (Akinfasoye, 2006).
Green pepper is a delicious vegetable that can be enjoyed either raw or cooked. In Nigeria, Its cultivation which
originally confined to the drier savannah regions in the north, is now gradually gaining ground in the southern
parts of the country. Green pepper is an excellent source of antioxidants, vitamin A and C as well as
nerve-supportive vitamin B6. It is also a very good source of heart-healthy fiber, vitamin E, folate, potassium, and
vitamin K as well as the enzyme-supportive molybdenum.
In South West Nigeria, production level is far below the average production level of about 10tons/ha recorded in
the Northern part of Nigeria. Among the major contributing factors to the low production in South West Nigeria
