Poultry manure influenced growth, yield and nutritional quality of containerized aromatic pepper (Capsicum annuum L., var Nsukka Yellow)

Abstract

‘Nsukka Yellow’ pepper is anaromatic pepper (Capsicum annuum) grown in specific rural localesin southeastern Nigeria.Ripe fruits are predominantly yellow and are exported to Nigerian citieswhere they commandpremium price. The need to develop appropriatetechnologiesfor adaptation andcultivation of ‘Nsukka Yellow’ pepper in cities where there are scarcity of agricultural landsmotivated evaluation of the pepper as apotherb usingthree poultry manure (PM) rates (0, 5and 10 t/ha).Three-week old seedlings were transplanted into 11Lcontainers and laid out in a completely randomized design replicated 10 times.Growth,yield and nutritional qualityof fruits (at different ripening stages) were determined in response to applied manure. Plant height, number of leaves and number of branches increased with increasing level of PM, which translated to increasednumber of fruits and fruit weight per plant.Plants that received 10 t/ha of PM produced the highest fruit yield.Mature green, half ripe and fully ripe fruits were analyzed forash, carbohydrate, fat, crude fiber, moisture, protein, alkaloid, flavonoid, tannin and volatile oil contents using standard methods.Both yellow fruits and red fruits (off-type from mutated branches) were harvested and analyzed fornutritional quality.Fruits harvestedfrom 10 t/ha PM had the highest percent fat, crude fiber, moisturecontent, alkaloid, flavonoid, tannin andvolatile oil.However, 5 t/ha producedfruits with the highest ash and proteincontents; fruits from plants without manurehad thehighest percent carbohydrate. Fully ripe fruits had the highest percent carbohydrate, crude fiber, alkaloid, flavonoid, tannin and volatile oil,but greenfruitshad highervaluesfor moisture and protein. Red fruitshad the highest valuesforfat, carbohydrate, protein, alkaloid, flavonoid and volatile oil while the yellow type had the highest percent valuesforash, crude fiberand tannin.Data on growth,yield and nutritional qualityhadsignificant positiveresponse to the PM rates, suggesting that 10 t/ha is recommendable for growing the pepper asa potherb