GROWTH AND FRUIT WEIGHT OF CHILLI PEPPER (CAPSICUM FRUTESCENS) AS AFFECTED BY SOIL STERILIZATION AND PRICKING OUT.

Abstract

Pricking out and the sterilization are regarded as very important nursery practices in certain crops but chilli farmers in northern Ghana do not practice them. Information is needed on their effects on the growth and yield of chilli pepper so as to promote these practices in northern Ghana. A field experiment, was conducted at the experimental farm of the University for Development Studies, Nyankpala campus, Ghana to verify the contributions of some simple nursery soil sterilization types, seedling pricking and their interactions to the growth and fruit weight of chilli pepper. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatment combinations were straw burning (to sterilize the nursery bed) with pricking out, straw burning without pricking, solarisation (to sterilize the soil by trapping solar energy) with pricking out, solarisation with no pricking out, no solarisation with pricking out and a control which did not receive any of the treatment. The parameters studied were plant height, number of leaves, number of branches, canopy spread, number of fruits, fresh and dry fruit weight. The results revealed that, pricking out or sterilization affected most of the parameters studied independently. Pricked out plants were taller, produced more branches, produced about twice the number and weight of fruits compared to non-pricked out ones. Soil sterilization especially straw burning enhanced the production if more leaves and higher fresh fruit weigh per fruit. It is concluded that plants that were nursed on sterilized soils and later pricked out were better in vegetative growth and fruit weight than those that were not. Ongoing research is quantifying the reduction in soil pathogen and weed seeds as a result of the nursery bed sterilization types under consideration.