• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.237-243
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• 2021

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of stem number on plant growth, fruit quality, and yield of sweet peppers grown in greenhouses under supplemental lighting in winter. The seedlings were transplanted at 3.2 plants·m^-2 on October 26, 2020, and started supplemental lighting with 32 high pressure sodium lamps for 16-hour photoperiod from December 1, 2020 to May 25, 2021. Stems were differently trained with 2 and 3 numbers after branching nodes were developed. In the final harvest, the plant height was significantly shorter in the 3 stem-plants than in the 2 stem-plants. The number of nodes per stem and the leaves per plant were increased in the 3 stem-plants than in the 2 stem-plants, while the leaf area was less affected. There were no significant differences in the dry mass of leaves, stems, and immature fruits between the 2 and 3 stem-plants. The fruit fresh weight and fruit dry weight in the 3 stem-plants were decreased by 17% and 12% at 156 days after transplanting (DAT), and by 17% and 15% at 198 DAT compared to those in the 2 stem-plants, respectively. The marketable fruit rates were 93.6% and 95.4% in the 2 and 3 stem-plants, respectively. The total fruit yield in the 3 stem-plants was increased by 30.2% as compared to that in the 2 stem-plants. We concluded that the 3-stem-training cultivation positively affected the total fruit yield by sustaining adaptive vegetative growth of the plants. This result will help producers make useful decisions for increasing productivity of sweet peppers in greenhouses.