Effects of Three Commercially Available Plant Growth Regulators and One Plant Growth Enhancer on Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) Yield and Pigment Content.

Commercially available plant growth regulators (PGR) and plant growth enhancers (PGE) may be used to increase crop productivity and improve fertilizer and water use efficiency. Little independent field-scale research has been conducted concerning the benefit of these materials in actual production systems. This study was initiated to determine the efficacy of foliar PGR and PGE application in the production of paprika and cayenne cultivars of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). Three PGRs and one PGE were foliarly applied to several production pepper fields in the Pecos River valley of southeastern New Mexico during the 1997 and 1998growing seasons. The Reagan loam (fine-silty, mixed, superactive thermic Ustic Haplocalcid) soils were furrow irrigated with artesian groundwater, and individual replicated treatment blocks were a minimum 0.5 ha in size. All peppers were hand harvested. The paprika peppers were dried to constant weight, yields were determined, and paprika pigment extracts were analyzed spectrometrically. In 1997 and 1998, yield was increased by 15.1 to 24.2% in plants treated with some PGRs. PGE treatment resulted in significant paprika yield increases in 1997 and 1998 and a significant yield increase in cayenne in 1997, but did not have a significant effect on paprika pigment content. The results indicated that foliar application of PGRs and PGEs to pepper cultivars can enhance yields in commercial production fields. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]