Based on the experiments, an assessment was made to determine for green pepper the amount of nutrients extracted by unit weight of fruit and plant parts not meant to be consumed (foliage, stem, root), i.e. the specific nutrient requirements of pepper. A further objective was to find out to what extent nutrient accumulation in individual plant organs was influenced by differences in production technology and soil conditions.

Nowadays one of the most important issues of greenhouse vegetable production in soilless media is the protection of the environment, in particular, the selection of the root medium to be applied. The objective of the trial was to test the applicability of baked (expanded) clay granules in hydroponic pepper growing with special respect to the growing pot (plastic tubes and buckets with bottom and lateral holes). From the result of the experiment it can be concluded that baked clay pellets, similarly to rockwool, are a suitable medium for providing root anchorage for pepper, however, it is necessary to examine some technological issues (e.g. fertilization, irrigation) prior to starting a large scale commercial cultivation. Relative to the three growing containers tested, it can be concluded that with the 4-8 mm crushed clay pebbles cultivation can be carried out successfully both in the white plastic tube and in the bucket, with the latter it is recommended to locate the drainage holes on the side of the growing container (at 6 cm from the bottom of the bucket).

Hungary is a country with excellent ecological potentials and with rich traditions in vegetable production. The total vegetable production area comprises about 100 000 ha and annual production amounts to 1.4-1.8 million tons, 75-80% comes from fields and the rest from forcing. Approximately 40 species are produced, but only 20 of them play a dominant role. The most important ones arc: sweet corn, peas, peppers, watermelon, onions, tomatoes, gherkin, carrots, beans, white cabbage. 40-45% of the total production is processed, 20-30% sold on the fresh market and 30% exported. Vegetable production is based on rural farms of 1-5 ha average acreage. It provides living for about 70-100 000 families. The low number of producers' organisations is a major setback. Profitability of vegetable production is rather low. Production costs are high, wholesale prices are depressed. Vegetables are produced for the industry by contract. Fresh vegetables are sold through local markets (15-20%), the wholesale market (decreasing importance) and direct marketing (35-40%). Against the self-sufficiency of the country there is a seasonal import of vegetables mainly in winter and early springtime. Hungarian legal regulations are harmonized with the EU directives, EU standards are accepted and applied, traditionally good market connections and cooperation with several EU countries enable the country to be a partner of EU vegetable growers.

The changed economical surroundings and the more strict ecological rules induced a need of changes also of the system of advisory on nutrient-supply of vegetable growing. There were many experiences and scientific results born after the last summarizing vegetable fertilization directives (1981), which allowed finishing a new system of advisory mentioned and presented above. We are sure, that the new directives, based on the modern view of vegetable production and also laying on economical possibilities will help the domestic vegetable production to stay competitive on the domestic and the foreign markets both.

In our experiments, we have chiefly tested the salt sensitivity of sweet pepper varieties. In cold forcing, 0.3 1/plant nutrient solutions of different NaCI content were given twice weekly. EC of the nutrient solutions containing 0.25% Volldünger Linz complex fertilizer was made up to 6, 10, 14 and 18 mS/cm, respectively, by 2.51/9.17/17.97/26.76 g/m2 doses of pharmacopeal NaCI every week. The solution used for the control treatment contained Volldünger only (EC 4.4 mS/cm). Irrigation was made with pure water (EC 0.6 mS/cm) when necessary. The varieties chosen for the experiments were the following: Feherözön, HRF F1, Syn. Cecei (of white, conical fruit), Boni (of white, blunt, infolded fruit), Titan F1 (of pointed, hot fruit) and Pritavit F1 (of tomato shaped fruit). In general, the symptoms caused by NaCI treatments (with doses higher than 10 g/m2 weekly) have been the following: They have reduced the leaf area, the height of the plants, the total and the early yield, the number of fruit set per square meter, the average weight of the fruit (and, in some measure, fruit length, too) and the thousand seed weight. They have increased the calcium and the chlorine content of the leaves and fruits and the dry matter content of the fruits. They haven't affected the dry matter content of the leaves, the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content of the leaves and fruits, and the germinating ability of the seed. The effect on stem diameter and on seed production per fruit has been contradictory in some cases. The effects of the intermediate treatments haven't been explicit in several cases. The results of the examination of cuticular secretion have indicated the increase of the sodium and chlorine content of the leaves. This can be important in field growing where the rainwater may wash out a part of sodium and chlorine from paprika leaves. The hot, pointed variety and the tomato shaped paprika haven't shown clearly higher salt tolerance than the varieties of white fruit colour.