EFFECT OF SPRAYING BORON, SORBITOL AND MANNITOL IN GROWTH AND NUTRITIVE VALUE OF FRUITS AND SEED PRODUCTION OF PEPPER cv. CALIFORNIA WONDER.

A factorial experiment (3 × 7) was conducted according to randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications in the open field of the research station B belong to College of Agric. Eng. Sci., University of Baghdad, ALJadriya for the period from 15/12/2016 to 1/12/2017 to study the effect of spraying boron and Sorbitol and Mannitol on the growth, quantity and quality of the yield and quantity of seeds produced from the pepper plant cv. California wonder. The experiment included two factors, first one was Boron (0, 50, 100 mg l^-1) and the second factor was Sorbitol (15, 25, 35 g, l^-1) and Mannitol (10, 20 and 30 g, l^-1) in addition to the control treatment (spraying with water), The results showed that boron at concentration 100 mg l^-1 significantly increased the fresh and dry weight of the vegetative growth (2242.4,428.4 g plant^-1 respectively), dry weight of the roots (64.9 g plant^-1), vitamin C (91.238 mg 100gm^-1 ), carbohydrate (5.54 mg g^-1), proteins (5.09 mg l^-1), plant production (4.423 kg plant^-1), weight of seed produced (7.35 g kg^-1 fruits) and specific weight of seeds (6.717 g). Significant superiority of Mannitol at concentration 30 mg l^-1 in the fresh and dry weight of vegetative growth, dry weight of roots, vitamin C, carbohydrates, plant production, weight of seed produced and specific weight (2541.0 g plant^-1, 461.0 g plant^-1, 72.519 g plant^-1, 92.667 mg 100 g^-1, 5.797 mg g^-1, 4.823 kg plant^-1, 8.501 g kg ^-1 fruits and 7.206 g, respectively). The interaction between two variables was significant for all the studied traits, this showed that the response of pepper to first variable related to the other variable. It could be concluded that the best combination between two variables was boron (100 mg l^-1) and sugar alcohols (mannitol 30 g l^-1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]