Journal Article

Growth and Yield of Sweet Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) Varieties as Affected by Nitrogen Fertilizer Rates at Samaru, Zaria, Nigerian Guinea Savanna

Abstract

Field research was conducted at the research farm of Institute for Agricultural Research (I.A.R.), Ahmadu Bello University Samaru, Zaria (lat: 110 11’ N and long: 070 38’ E; 686m above sea level) in Guinea Savanna, Nigeria, in 2012 and 2013 rainy seasons to investigate growth and yield of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) varieties (California Wonder and Yolo Wonder) as affected by nitrogen rates (0, 70, 140 and 210 kg N ha-1 ) in form of urea. The treatments were laid out in the field in randomized complete block design (RCBD) in 4 by 2 factorial replicated three times. Observations were made on growth characters like plant height (cm), stem diameter (mm), leaf area index (LAI) and crop growth rate (CGR) per plant (g wk-1) at 4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks after transplanting (WAT). Yield and yield components like days to 50% flowering, fruit length (cm), fruit width (cm) and fresh fruit yield per hectare (ton) were recorded on per plot basis. The results obtained showed that application of nitrogen fertilizer up to 210 kg ha-1 influenced growth of sweet pepper varietiessignificantly at Samaru, with respect to plant height, stem diameter, leaf area index (LAI) and crop growth rate (CGR) while 70kg N ha-1 gave greatest fresh fruit weight per plant. Significant variations were observed amongst the varieties where Yolo Wonder had statistically higher values for growth characters of the sweet peppers, while the California Wonder outperformed in terms of yield and yield components in both seasons. Significant interactions of nitrogen rate and variety observed on CGR (at 6-8 WAT in 2012 and at 8-10 WAT in 2013) revealed that in 2013 Yolo Wonder supplied 210kg N ha-1 had the highest CGR values (46.15g wk-1) at Samaru. Thus from the observations made in this research it could be recommended to farmers in Samaru to cultivate California Wonder variety of sweet pepper and application of 70kg ha-1 urea fertilizer for maximum fresh fruit yield.

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