Prem Bahadur Kunwar1 * Sushil Khatri2 and Tej Narayan Bhusal3
1 Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal
2 Department of Agricultural Economics & Agricultural Business, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA
3 Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal
* Corresponding Author’s Email: premkshetri121@gmail.com
Orcid IDs:
Prem Bahadur Kunwar : https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6576-8638
Sushil Khatri : https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4058-0877
Tej Narayan Bhusal: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6821-5110
Received on: 5 July, 2024 Revised on: 28 October, 2024 Accepted on: 12 November, 2024
Abstract
Optimizing fertilization to boost sweet pepper yield is essential for meeting food demands and promoting agricultural sustainability. This field experiment was performed from March to July 2022 in Sandhikharka, Arghankhanchi, to evaluate the effect of NPK levels from inorganic sources on the growth and yield of sweet pepper under different growing conditions. The experiment followed a two-factorial Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with eight treatments: two growing conditions (open field vs. poly-tunnel) and four NPK levels (0 %, 50%, 100%, and 150 % of the recommended dose of NPK), replicated thrice. Results revealed that poly-tunnel had the highest plant height (44 cm), stem base diameter (1.63 cm), number of leaves (169), number of branches (12), number of buds (10), number of flowers (5), number of fruits (6), fruit length (7 cm), fruit diameter (8 cm), average fruit weight (122 g) and yield (8.90 t/ha) as compared to open field conditions. The 50 % more of the recommended NPK had the highest plant height (47 cm), stem diameter (1.67 cm), number of leaves (165), number of branches (12), number of buds (11), number of flowers (6), number of fruits (6), fruit length (7 cm), fruit diameter (8.26 cm), average fruit weight (125 g) and yield (9.68 t/ha). Significant interactions between growing conditions and NPK levels were observed for fruit diameter, average fruit weight, and yield. The study concluded that the recommended NPK dose is optimal for poly-tunnel cultivation, while 150% of the recommended dose is needed for open field conditions.