Improving Management Practices for Transplant Production Of Chili Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

Abstract

This study evaluated the transplant production technique which produces chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) and ensures healthy, strong and uniform transplants, using the 'Prabu' variety to find out the effect of transplant media, cell size of transplant tray, fertilizing, and the method of seed preparation on the growth of chili pepper transplants. It used the Randomized Completely Block Design consisting of 32 treatments with three replications. The treatment was combined between transplant media (vermicompost, compost, topsoil + compost, and topsoil +) with tray cell size (72 cells and 128 cells per tray), and fertilization G-14-12-14 (149% N: 12% P2O5 : 14% K2O) and no fertilizer, and seed preparation methods (direct seeding in trays or germinated). The results showed that vermicompost was the appropriate media for chili pepper transplant production due to its production of higher fresh biomass, and led to increased plant height and higher number of leaves than produced by the other media. The longest root length was obtained by the application of compost. There was no difference between direct seeding or germinated seed treatment on the transplant performance. However fertilizer application during transplant production increased all measured variables. Larger cell size significantly increased fresh biomass and root length, but not plant height and number of leaves.