Effect of calcium nitrate foliar application on quality and yield of Byadgi Chilli

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2016 in the farmer’s field at Agadi village (Tq: Hubbli) in Dharwad district, Karnataka to study the effect of calcium nitrate foliar spray on quality and yield of Byadgi chilli. Quality attributes of chilli fruits revealed that, treatment which received 3 foliar sprays of Ca(NO3)2 at 1.5 per cent recorded significantly highest colour value ( 280.22 ASTA units) closely followed by treatment that received three foliar spray of Ca(NO3)2 at 1.0 per cent ( 274.66 ASTA units) and treatment with two sprays of Ca(NO3)2 at 1.5 per cent ( 272.74 ASTA units ) and highest oleoresin content (20.39 %) with three sprays of 1.5 per cent Ca(NO3)2 which was on par with treatments T8 (19.16 %) and T3 (16.98 %) that received 1.5 and 1.0 per cent foliar spray of Ca(NO3)2 on 75th DAT respectively but differed significantly from all other treatments. Highest dry fruit yield (21.76 q ha-1) was observed due to three foliar sprays of Ca(NO3)2 at 1.5 per cent and differed significantly from all other treatments. Control which did not receive foliar spray of calcium nitrate recorded lowest quality parameters and yield (12.76 q ha-1).