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Pepper Transplant Response to Root Volume and Nutrition in the Nursery

Dep. of Soil Chemistry and Plant Nutrition, Inst. of Soils and Water, Agric. Res Organization, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel

U. Kafkafi

Dep. of Field Crops, Faculty of Agric., The Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel

^* Corresponding author.

The use of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) seedlings for transplanting in the field is common. However, very little is known about the effects of root volume and nutrition in the nursery on transplant performance in the field. The objective of this work was to study the effects of N and P supply to various root volumes on pepper seedling development and growth in the nursery, and fruit yield and harvest earliness in the field. Seedlings were grown in trays packed with a peat/vermiculite mixture, 1:l (v/v). The plants were irrigated by soaking the trays in the studied nutrient solutions. Phosphorus and N concentrations in the test solutions were 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 mM P and 1, 5, 10 and 15 mM N (NH₄/NO₃ = 1:l). Root volumes (V) were 5, 15, 35, 65 and 700 cm³ plant^–1. Following transplanting, all plants in the field received identical, optimal irrigation and fertilization. Seedling weight increased with increasing root volume and nutrient concentrations in the irrigation water. The optimal solution for pepper seedlings in the studied growth medium was 5 mM N and 0.5 mM P. Nitrogen, P and K contents in tops of optimal seedlings (V = 700 cm³) were 39, 5.5 and 67 g kg^–1 dry matter, respectively. Seedling development was retarded when top's content was <25 mg N kg^–1 and <3.1 mg P kg^–1. Four weeks after transplanting plant weight in the field increased and fruit ripening was hastened when the top's dry weight at planting time increased from 63 to 285 mg plant^–1. Plant relative growth rate and total fruit yield were unaffected by nursery treatments.

Received for publication October 23, 1989.