Effect of cropping and management techniques on Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) production under rain-fed farming

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate cropping and management techniques for chilli plants under rain-fed conditions. Cropping included a standard farmers style bed (designated as CL1.1), a specially modified bed (CL1.2) and a standard farmers bed (no flower removal) as the control (CL1.3). Management included 1st bottom three flower removal in CL1.1 (designated as ML1.1) and CL1.2 (ML1.2). The result showed that chilli cultivated in CL1.2 outperformed both CL1.1 and CL1.3 in all tested aspects including growth, yield, soil moisture content and soil properties. CL2.3 performed the lowest in all parameters. ML2.2 exhibited ML1.1 in plant-height, leaf-length, leaf-breadth, fruit-girth, fruit number per plant, OC%, pH and NPK. ML2.1 performed the maximum in stem diameter, leaf number, fruit weight, girth-apex, fruit-length with pedicel and fruit-length. Considering the combination effect of cropping and management levels, CL1.2*ML2.2 outperformed CL1.3*ML0 in all traits. These results indicated the characteristics of the specially modified plot and 1st bottom three flower removal in a modified plot was the recommended combination under rain fed farming.