Effect of selected bio-stimulants on yield and quality of Byadagi chilli (Capsicum annum var. annuum) var. Rudra

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of selected bio-stimulants on yield and quality of Byadagi chilli (Capsicum annum var. annuum) var. Rudra during Kharif season 2022 at Sanjeevini Vatika, Department of Horticulture, University of Agriculture Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore, Karnataka. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with nine treatments and three replications. The nine treatments such as control (T1), foliar spray of chitosan 5 ml/l (T2), Kappaphycus alvarezii 1.5 ml/l (T3), Microbial consortia 10 ml/l (T4), Salicylic acid 0.5 mM (T5), Humic acid 4 ml /l (T6), Seaweed extract 2 ml/l (T7), Fish amino acid 5ml/l (T8) and Arka microbial consortia (T9) 10 ml/l applied on 15, 30, 45, 60 and 75 days after transplanting. Among bio-stimulants used, plants treated with foliar application of humic acid at 4 ml/l showed significantly increased yield and quality attributes such as days to 50 percent flowering (31.97 days), number of green fruits per plant (125.67), fruit length (12.40 cm), fruit girth (2.83 cm), number of dry fruits per plant (58.41), dry fruit yield per plant (128.33 g), dry fruit yield per hectare (3.56 t/ha), number of seeds per fruit (136.97), seed weight per fruit (0.92 g), capsaicin (1.37%), capsanthin (220.15 ASTA) and oleoresin (15.03%) content of fruit as compared to other treatments.