Response of Red Hot Pepper Plant (Capsicum annuum L.) to the Deficit Irrigation

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of five different irrigation levels (I1, I2, I3, I4 and I5) on fruit number (FN) of red hot pepper, fruit dry weight (FDW), dry yield (DY) using a line source sprinkler system and determine water production function of pepper in 1999 and 2000 growing season in Kahramanmaras. The average water amounts applied to I1 (non-stressed) and I5 (stressed) for the two years were 913.4 and 295.7 mm. The evapotranspiration (Et) for peppers over the 2 years for I1 and I5 were 1056 and 446.6 mm, respectively. Mean FN, FDW and DY for I1 and I5 treatments were 46 and 14.5 fruit plant -1 , 0.9 and 0.55 g fruit -1 and 1358 and 284 kg ha -1 , respectively. Deficit irrigation significantly affected the FN and FDW and DY. The average FN increased over 3 times when comparing I1 with I5. The average FDW increased over 1.6 times when comparing I3 with I5. Linear water production functions were determined DY versus total irrigation water and Et. When irrigation water is plenty, the red hot pepper can be irrigated at the level of I1 and I2. When water source is scarce, pepper can be irrigated at the lower water level taking economic conditions into consideration.