FRUIT YIELD, FRUIT QUALITY AND SEED YIELD OF FOUR CHILLI VARIETIES GROWN IN OPEN-FIELD AS AFFECTED BY CONVENTIONAL SYSTEM IN PEAT SOIL AREA AND FERTIGATION SYSTEM

摘要

A field experiment was conducted to compare two different cultivation systems, conventional and fertigation on plant growth, fruit yield and physical fruit qualities of two commercial varieties (151 and 461) and two local varieties (MC11 and Kulai) of chili and seed yield among local varieties. In conventional system, plants were grown in peat soil area with two times of fertilizer applications, basal and top dressing following recommended dose (18 g N, 3 g P and 15 g K/plant in total). In fertigation system, fertilizer was supplied with irrigation water. Dependent variables on plant growth were taken at the first harvest meanwhile data on fruit quality and seed yield were taken at the second harvest. Stem height was taken weekly from 1 to 10 weeks after transplant. Results showed that cultivation system does not have significant effect on fruit yield all varieties but type of variety does (P<0.001). Type of variety also had significant effect on stem height, number of fruit per kilogram and all fruit physical qualities at P<0.0001. Type of cultivation system had significant effect on number of fruit per kilogram at P<0.0001 and fruit length at P<0.001. Among all varieties tested, variety of 461 abled to produce highest fruit yield and all physical fruit qualities especially when grown conventionally in peat soil. Therefore, it is recommended to use variety of 461 and growing conventionally in peat soil area for high fresh fruit production. Seed yield of MC11 was recorded the highest when grown under conventional system while vice versa for Kulai. Therefore, for high production of MCI 1 seeds, it is recommended to grow the plants under conventional system, however, fertigation system for Kulai. This study also would like to suggest repeating this study with a modification on fertilizer rate of fertigation system.