Influence of Agricultural Practices on Soil Properties and Fruit Nutrient Contents of Bell Pepper

Abstract

Bell pepper is an economic product that widely used in the world. The total of Bell pepper and Chile pepper production of the world is about 25 million metric tons, while in Jordan about 5,000 ha are planted by bell pepper annually.During the 2010/2011 season,an experiment was carried out under plastic-house conditions at the Station of Princess Tasneem Bent Ghazi for Technological Research at Humrat Al-Sahen.To compare the effect of four fermented organic matter sources (cattle, poultry and sheep manure in addition to 1:1:1 mixture of the three organic matter sources), with that of the conventional treatment on soil properties and fruit nutrient content of bellpepper cultivar Marvello by using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replicates.Conventional treatment had a significant higher effect on the soil pH, EC, N, P, K and Na. Fruit nitrate content was within the acceptable levels. A high content of micronutrients (Zn and Fe) were observed in the conventionally treated bell pepper fruits.In addition, the bell pepper fruit content of minerals was higher in conventional treatment than all other organic treatments. The highest yield per plant was obtained by the conventional treatment, in comparison to other treatments. Although the reduction in yield per plant and the total yield reduction was about 20 % less than conventional farming, but the increase in profit was almost doubled due to higher prices of organic bell peppers.

Quality and Nutrient Contents of Fruits Produced Under Organic Conditions

“…For example, bell pepper fruits, which were produced under conventional systems, were characterized by a high content of minerals ( Table 1). The highest contents of zinc and iron in bell pepper were obtained in the conventional treatment with significant differences between other treatments, while there were no significant differences among the organic matter treatments, which could be attributed to the high application of chemical fertilizers [13]. The contents of calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and phosphorous in bell pepper fruit were significantly higher in those produced with conventional system than all those produced with organic matter systems ( Table 2); even though the highest calcium content was obtained by the conventional treatment, there was no significant difference with the poultry manure, which could be due to the high use of limestone in the chicken food mixture [13].…”

“…Ammonium and nitrate contents in conventionally grown strawberry fruits were 49.4 and 23.6 ppm, respectively, due to high use of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers, whereas it was found that ammonium content was 32.3 ppm and nitrate content was extremely low in organically produced fruits [10]. The nitrate content in bell pepper fruit was very low (<200 mgkg -1 ), for all different cultural systems (organic or inorganic), even though the minimum value of nitrate content for organically produced bell peppers and the maximum value for fertilized bell peppers were found below the safe limit [13].…”

“…Vegetables represent the most important source of nitrogen for human nutrition, which is essential for growth. Therefore, its accumulation in plants is a natural phenomenon resulting from uptake of the nitrate ion that is found in excess amounts, and the intensive use of nitrogen fertilizer and manure causes nitrate contamination of the environment; therefore, vegetables can accumulate high levels of nitrogen and, when consumed, pose serious health concerns [13]. Ammonium and nitrate contents in conventionally grown strawberry fruits were 49.4 and 23.6 ppm, respectively, due to high use of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers, whereas it was found that ammonium content was 32.3 ppm and nitrate content was extremely low in organically produced fruits [10].…”

“…Fruit crude fiber content highly differs according to fruit dry weight [21], but it is found to be higher in organically produced fruits in comparison to conventionally produced fruits [10]; the high crude fiber content in the organically produced fruits could ensure better nutritional and health benefits related to fiber consumption [22]. The highest strawberry crude fibre fruit value (8.13%) was obtained by the 4.5 kg organic matter/m 2 , which was significantly different from the conventional, and control treatments [13]. Although, crude fiber of bell pepper fruit was improved by the use of the cattle manure which produced the highest (2.96%) crude fiber content in comparison to the conventional system which produced the lowest content (2.8%) [23].…”