Productivity, quality of fruits and architecture of Jalapeño pepper at different planting densities

• Autor(a) principal: Ragassi,Carlos Francisco
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Zucolotto,Juliana, Gomes,Lucas M, Ribeiro,Cláudia SC, Madeira,Nuno Rodrigo, Reifschneider,Francisco José B
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Horticultura Brasileira
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-05362019000300331
• topic: Capsicum annuum; mechanized harvesting; crop management; processing

ABSTRACT Mechanizing the harvest of Jalapeño pepper involves changes in the production system. Spacings between plants in rows (10 to 40 cm; 60 cm fixed between rows) were evaluated in relation to plant architecture, productivity and fruit quality of cultivar BRS Sarakura during three years, in a randomized complete block design with five replicates. Productivity (41.9 to 78.8 t ha-1) and plant height (40.1 to 47.3 cm) responded linearly to density; on the other hand, productivity per plant responded negatively (0.48 to 1.04 kg plant-1). The stem first bifurcation height was little influenced. Fruit chemical analyses were carried out in the second year of the experiment; spacing significantly influenced pH (5.36 to 4.84), total titratable acidity (TTA) (0.48 to 0.36%) and total soluble solids (TSS)/TTA ratio (11.5 to 15.6); no influence on TSS (5.65%) was noticed, though. The increase of plant population provided an increase in productivity without affecting fruit quality; the highest height of the first bifurcation achieved may not be enough to enable mechanized harvesting of the cultivar BRS Sarakura.