Impact of plastic mulches and algae fertilizations on the growth and quality of sweet pepper.

Abstract

This experiment was done under a plastic greenhouse to investigate the growth, fruit quality parameters and yield of sweet pepper plants grown under two different plastic mulch color and three different treatments of Nostoc clacicola fertilizations. The plastic mulch treatments were transparent polyethylene and white polyethylene with 100 microns thickness. Bare soil (uncovered soil) was used as a control. Transparent and white polyethylene was laid after the establishment of the double rows (0.80 m width). Beds were manually installed to correspond to treatments and Nostoc clacicola fertilization treatments: Nostoc clacicola foliar fertilization, Nostoc clacicola soil fertilization and Nostoc clacicola foliar with soil fertilization (spray+ Soil). Vegetative growth (plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves/ plants, number of branches/ plants, leaves fresh weight and leaf area), as well as fruit yield and quality (total yield, fruit length and fruit diameter), chemical contents (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Leaves dry matter% and Vitamin C) of sweet pepper (Capsicum species) Gedeon F1 Hybrid. Obtained results revealed that using transparent plastic mulch with a combination of Nostoc clacicola foliar and soil fertilization enhanced all vegetative growth measurements and increased all assayed chemical constituents of plant leaves, as well as increasing total fruit yield and components.