Plant Row Spacing Effect on Growth and Yield of Green Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in Western Kenya
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Date
2017
Authors
Edgar, Ocharo N.
Gweyi-Onyango, Joseph P.
Korir, Nicholas K.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SCIENCEDOMAIN International
Abstract
Green pepper production based on the package of recommendations developed has not given the
desired growth and yield performances in the world and specifically Kenya. Information is required
with which to evolve the agronomic practices that will be adopted to maximize yield in green
pepper production. Great attention should be paid when selecting the most appropriate spacing
where there are very few reports and limited information regarding plant spacing in cultivation of
the crop under the agro-climatic conditions of Kenya. Therefore, a field study was carried out at the
Alupe Research Station, Busia County, to evaluate the growth and yield responses of green
pepper under three row plant spacings namely: 50x40 cm, 40x40 cm and 30x40 cm during the long
and short rainy seasons of 2015. The experiment was set up in a randomized complete block
design with three replicates. The treatment effects were measured on plant growth for 12 weeks
and ripe fruit yield parameters which were later cleaned statistically analyzed. The plant spacing
had significant variation in almost all the growth and yield components except the fruit length. In both seasons, the number of branches per plant, stem girth and number of fruits per plant were
found to be significantly increased with the increasing of plant spacing but the plant height, number
of leaves per plant, fruit breadth and yield per plant were found to be significantly increased with
the decreasing plant spacing. The highest yield per plant of 555.1 g and 551.8 g were realized
during the short and long rainy seasons respectively in the 40 by 40 cm spacing treatment.
Considering the yield of fruits per plant, the 40 by 40 cm plant spacing appeared to be the most
recommendable for the cultivation of green pepper.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Green pepper, Row spacing, Yield, Yield components
Citation
Archives of Current Research International 7(3): 1-9, 2017; Article no.ACRI.33101