Effect of foliar application of salicylic acid and potassium silicate on productivity and physical quality characteristics of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) fruits [electronic resource]

Includes bibliographic reference

This study was carried out at the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University,Assiut, Egypt, during two summer seasons (2018/2019 and 2019/2020) under development irrigation system to assess the growth and productivity of hot pepper. The experiment consisted of two released hot pepper cultivars (Ealaganle and Bigmama 3), two foliar concentrations of salicylic acid (SA) and two foliar concentrations potassium silicate (PS). Treatments were laid out under Split plot design with three replications where, cultivars were assigned as main plot factor, foliar concentrations were arranged as sub plot factors. Data were collected for physical fruit quality and fruit Productivity of hot pepper.
Analysis of variances (ANOVA) revealed that varieties differed significantly (P ≤ 0.05) in fruit physical quality of hot pepper fruit and fruit productivity. Ealaganle cultivar, surpassed Bigmama3 cultivar, in physical quality of hot pepper fruit and fruit productivity. Results proved that spraying Ealaganle cultivar, with 8 ml/L of potassium silicate 9 times significantly increased pepper fruit yield and yield attribute. Application of potassium silicate at 4 and 8 ml/L gave the maximum hot pepper yield (21.14 and 20.03 %) and (32.17 and 30.97%) compared to the control in the first and second seasons, respectively. Additionally, a positive and highly significant relationship between yield and harvest frequency was recorded.
Keywords: Hot pepper, Cultivars, Potassium silicate, Growth, Yield.

Summary in Arabic