The amount of secondary metabolites can be increased with different elicitor applications in vitro. It has been determined that zinc sulphate significantly increases the amount of capsaicin in the cell culture of red hot pepper. It is important to determine how the metal applied as elicitor will have an effect on plant metabolism. In the study, it was aimed to determine the effects of zinc sulphate (ZnSO4) applied to the cell suspension cultures of pepper seeds at different concentrations (0.1 M, 0.2 M, 0.4 M) and for periods (24, 48, 72 hours) on the total protein and phenolic substance amounts, and superoxide dismutase-peroxidase enzyme activities of pepper calluses. It was observed that the amount of protein increased, superoxide dismutase and peroxidase enzyme activities decreased, and the total amount of phenolic substance increased especially in 72 hours of treatment where zinc was applied as elicitor. These results show that ZnSO4 can be used as an abiotic elicitor in plant cell culture media.

Water deficit is one of the main limiting factors affecting plant growth. Selection in water-limited environments can result in populations or species with improved response to drought. Water deficit decreases yield and quality, therefore, it is important to identify genotypes that are tolerant to deficit irrigation conditions. In this study, the water-deficit tolerance of 59 pepper-inbred lines was determined. Experiments were conducted in a growth chamber and under field conditions (Şanlıurfa) with a control (100% full-irrigation) and water-deficit treatment (50% irrigation). Fruit weight, fruit length and number of fruits were recorded. Pepper lines 1900, 896 A-W, 74, 760, 1560-W, 912 A-W, 405-A, 953-W, 226, 1105-W and 441 were identified as the most tolerant to water deficit conditions. Present findings revealed that these pepper lines could be used to develop cultivars that have satisfactory yield under water deficit conditions.

In this study, selenium levels of P.citrinopileatus added different rates of red pepper waste to compost as a source of selenium were determined. For this purpose, six different compost groups were prepared and inoculated with P.citrinopileatus mycelia. Selenium levels of harvested mushrooms were analysed. In conclusion, 0.338 µg/g selenium were determined in one gram dry mushroom that red pepper waste added to compost at 5%. Mycelia growth and selenium accumulation were negatively affected by higher rates of red pepper waste.

The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of nitrogen on growth and yield of chili (Capsicum annuum L.) under rooftop conditions. The single factorial experiments were laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Four levels of nitrogen N0: 0 kg N ha-1, N1: 90 kg N ha-1, N2: 110 kg N ha-1 and N3: 130 kg N ha-1 were used in this experiment. Growth and yield contributing parameters significantly influenced by different doses of nitrogenous fertilizers. The dose of N2 gave the highest plant height (80.97 cm) and most of the morphological parameters increased with increasing nitrogen levels up to N2. The treatment N3 gave the highest fruit length (4.93 cm), yield of fruits plant-1 (165.33 gm), average fruit yield plot-1 (0.66 kg), individual fruit weight (1.97 g) and average fruit yield (5.533 kgha-1). Based on the present results, it can be suggested that use of 130 kg N ha-1 increased plant growth and fruit yield of chili in rooftop garden.