Water use, growth and yield of fadama-grown pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) as affected by mulching and drip irrigation in a humid zone of Nigeria
Journal Title: Scientia Agriculturae - Year 2013, Vol 4, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper reports the effects of mulching and gravity-drip irrigation, on soil moisture extraction, growth and yield of dry season pepper grown in an inland valley swamp (fadama).Treatments were allocated to field plots using a randomized complete block design. The field experiments were conducted in Akure, a humid zone of Nigeria between November 2008 and April, 2009The mulching materials evaluated were transparent and black polythene sheets and dry grass. Irrigation regimes consisted of water application once or twice weekly using gravity-drip irrigation system. From both experiments, data were collected on pattern of pepper water extraction and agronomic parameters of root and shoot biomass, leaf area, flowering and fruiting characters of pepper. Mulching significantly reduced soil temperatures and enhanced soil moisture storage which under grass and polythene mulch were lower compared with unmulched plots. Soil moisture tension varied within the crop root zone, during seedling establishment (1 - 7 Weeks after transplanting, WAT), it ranged from -10 to -26 KPa and from -2 to -24 KPa while during the reproductive phase to crop maturity (8 - 15 WAT), it varied between -32 to -40 KPa and -25 to -53 KPa at the respective at surface (0 – 20 cm) and subsoil (20 – 60cm) depths. Soil moisture contents were lowest for plots irrigated once weekly compared with twice weekly irrigation. Soil moisture contents within the crop root zone ranged between 14.7 and 11.8% for surface soil and 14.9 to 14.5% at the seedling stage and reduced to as low as 10.8 and 11.9% respectively at flowering and fruiting phases. Application of mulch significantly (P = 0.05) increased root and shoot biomass and fruit yield over bare ground, while values of roots and shoot dry weights as well as leaf area were higher in addition to higher number and weights of fruits harvested in twice weekly irrigation. The use of mulch and drip irrigation improved growth, fruit yield and water use efficiency of pepper in the dry season
Authors and Affiliations
Agele Samuel, Agbona Ademola, Balogun Charles
Keywords
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