Applications of Nutrient-Controlling and Growth-Regulating Chemicals to Enhance Yield of Once-Over Harvest Red Pepper (Capsicum annuun L.)

The cultivation of once-over harvest pepper cultivars might be very valuable to Korean farmers who still depend on traditional hand-harvesting method. Thus, we conducted this experiment to obtain important information for enhancing the productivity of once-over harvest red pepper fruits by supplying several nutrient-controlling and growth-regulating chemicals, such as $KH_2PO_4$, $SiO_2$ and 2-chloroethylphosphonic acid (ethephon). Adequate fertilization was provided in each treatment plots. In this study, two once-over harvest pepper cultivars, Saengryeg No. 211 and 213 (SR 211 and SR 213), and one regular piecemeal harvest pepper cultivar, Kangryegdaetong (KRDT), were cultivated to evaluate the productivity of pepper fruit as affected by above chemicals. The distribution of macro- and micro-nutrients in pepper fruits among the cultivars were different in term of N, B, Cu, and Fe concentrations. In particular, the concentration of B in SR 213 was about 2 times higher than that in SR 211 and KRDT. However, overall red pepper productivity of SR 211 was markedly higher ($2.91{\sim}3.38Mg\;ha^{-1}$) than that ($1.68{\sim}2.37Mg\;ha^{-1}$) of SR 213. Also, the productivity of matured red pepper was significantly influenced by the treatments of $KH_{2}PO_{4}$, $SiO_2$ and ethephon. The yield indices for matured red pepper fruits were the highest with the treatment of $KH_2PO_4$ or $SiO_2$ with ethephon, which were 113~116% for SR 211 and 147~150% for SR 213. Thus, the applications of $KH_2PO_4$ or $SiO_2$ with ethephon would be suggested to enhance the productivity of matured red pepper fruit.