The impact of foliar treatments on yield and quality of round pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) at Asteroid 204 cv.

The current climate trends and the reduced impact of biostimulants on the environment, agriculture and horticulture have increasingly oriented towards the use of biostimulants as part of the technologies applied to plants. This present study investigates the effects of different foliar treatments with calcium nitrate, used with or without biostimulants, on the yield and quality of round pepper fruits, Asteroid 204 cultivar, in order to use them in the culture technology of this species. Starting with the fruit set, four foliar treatments were applied in the field with an interval of 10 days between treatments. For treatments, calcium nitrate, the product Calcinit, was used alone or in combination with the biostimulants Kelpak or Triptolemus HV, the variants being as follows: V1 – no treatments applied, V2 – treated with calcium nitrate, V3 - treated with calcium nitrate and Kelpak, V4 - treated with calcium nitrate and Triptolemus HV. The plants were harvested at the technological and physiological maturity of the round pepper, which is the same for this variety of pepper. The applied treatments greatly influenced the yield and weight of the round pepper fruits, but had a lower influence regarding the quality of the fruits (total soluble solids and dry weight). The combination of calcium nitrate with biostimulants led to the highest yield increases in round pepper.