Red Pepper Productivity and Soil Properties as Affected by Different Intervals of Side-dressing N and K Applications in Plastic Film House

Consecutive pepper cultivation in plastic film houses may lead to salt accumulation because pepper is considered a heavy nutrient feeder. For this reason, appropriate methods of fertilizer application should be established. Thus, we investigated the effect of different intervals of side-dressing N and K fertilizer applications on soil and red pepper in a plastic film house. All the amounts of recommended compost and phosphorus fertilizer were applied as basal dressing. Cultivars of the pepper plant were Cheon-Ha-Dae-Se (CHDS) and NW-BiGaLim (NW-BGL). Nitrogen and potassium fertilizers were treated as side-dressing at different intervals, 22 times in every 10 days, 15 times in every 15 days, and 11 times in every 20 days. Soil pH decreased with decreasing the intervals of side-dressing applications, whereas electrical conductivity (EC) declined with the increasing fertilizer application intervals. In particular, EC value decreased by up to 75% with CHDS cultivar in the plot of 20 day-interval and with NW-BGL cultivar in the plot of 15 day-interval. The concentrations of available phosphorus in the soils increased with increasing the interval. The concentration of exchangeable $K^+$ increased but exchangeable $Ca^{2+}$ and $Mg^{2+}$ decreased in all the plots, except in the control plot. The concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in leaves of the pepper plants were lowest in the control plot. Potassium concentrations in the pepper leaves were high in the control plot and in the plots of CHDS with 10 day-interval and NW-BGL with 15 day-interval. Red pepper productivity was high in the plots of 10- and 15 day-intervals for CHDS cultivar and 15- and 20 day-intervals for NW-BGL cultivar. Therefore, the 15 day-interval of side-dressing N and K applications was considered as an appropriate method for cultivating pepper plants and protecting soil in plastic film houses.