IMPACT OF SOIL AMENDMENT ON SOIL PROPERTIES AND PLANT GROWTH OF PEPPER (CAPSICUM ANNUUM)

Water scarcity is one of the most significant global factors influencing food productivity. Palestine has one of the world's most limited renewable water resources. Agriculture consumes 51.5 percent of total water consumption. Therefore, other water resources and staratigies are needed to cope with this situation. Soil amendments play an important role in enhancing crop growth and production.The objective of the study is to reduce the amount of water requirement of pepper plant through applying inorganic and organic soil amendments. In this study, different soil amendments including hydrogel, stevia straw, and compost were used under different irrigation levels (100%, 70%, and 50%) to irrigate ‘‘Nahas” pepper plants. Pepper seedlings was grown into 10 Litre- sized pots with one seedling per pot.Pots were filled with sand and peat moss, 3:1 ratio. The amendments were applied to the soil in each pots at a rate of 250 g of straw stevia, 250 g of compost, and 2.5 g of a hydrogel. The results showed that adding hydrogel (2.5 gm/plant) increased significantly plant height by 48.4cm, number of fruits by5.2, fresh plant weight by 58.1 g, dry plant weight by 17.2 g, fresh fruit weight by 62.4g, dry fruit weight by 45.8g, and fresh root weight by 21 g. However, adding hydrogel under 50% irrigation levels resulted in higher plant length by 51.7 cm, leaf chlorophyll content by 63.7, average number of fruit / plant by 3, fresh shoot weight by 60.8 g, fresh fruit weight by 44.7 g and fresh root weight by 21.2 g. The addition of compost and stevia straw to soil increased soil moisture but they had a negative effect on plant growth and productivity. In conclusion, the results of this study indicated the positive effect of applying hydrogel in conserving soil moisture content through its water-absorbing properties. Hydrogel helps to alleviate water stress, maintain soil moisture, and optimize water use efficiency, especially in regions facing water scarcity or drought conditions, and reduced the amount of water used for irrigation by 50% of irrigation. According to the results obtained under the comdition of this experiment could be recommended that adding hydrogel could be used under drought condition effective tool for soil water management. Keywords: Soil amendment; Hydrogel; Compost; Stevia straw; Irrigation levels.