Physiological and Productivity Responses in Two Chili Pepper Morphotypes (Capsicum annuum L.) under Different Soil Moisture Contents
2024
Aurelio Pedroza-Sandoval | José Rafael Minjares-Fuentes | Ricardo Trejo-Calzada | Isaac Gramillo-Avila
The aim of this study was to explore some physiological and productivity responses of two chili pepper morphotypes (Capsicum annum L.) exposed to different soil moisture contents. A randomized block design in a split-plot arrangement with four replicates was used. The large plots (32 m long and 3.2 m width) were 25% ±: 2 as the optimum soil moisture content (OSMC), and 20% ±: 2 as the suboptimum soil moisture content (SSMC): the small plots (16 m long and 3.2 m width) were two chili pepper morphotypes: Jalapeñ:o and Chilaca, respectively. Jalapeñ:o plants showed more stability in relative water content (RWC), photosynthetic activity (µ:mol CO2/m2/s), and a relatively low transpiration (mmol H2O/m2/s) and stomatal conductance (µ:mol H2O/m2/s): therefore, it had a higher number of flowers per plant and number of fruits per plant, consequently recording a high fruit production of 3.94 and 2.99 kg/m2 in OSMC and SSMC, respectively. In contrast, the Chilaca chili showed low stability in water relative content (WRC), photosynthesis, and transpiration, going from OSMC to SSMC, as well as showed a lower yield in SSMC: however, all of that was compensated by its size and weight of the fruit per plant, with a yield of 4.95 kg/m2 in OSMC. Therefore, the Jalapeñ:o chili pepper could be an option when the irrigation water is limited, and the Chilaca chili pepper when this resource is not limited.
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