Impact of varied concentrations of fertilizer solution on the growth of red pepper plug seedlings

Objective of this research was to determine the optimal concentration of post-planting fertilizers (CPPFs) for raising the seedlings of three red-pepper varieties using root media with an electrical conductivity (EC) of 0.3 dSm -1 or less.The 72-cell plug trays were filled with root media and seeds were sown.Fertilization began 11 days after sowing with four treatment solutions such as 50, 100, 150, and 200 mgL -1 based on nitrogen (N) concentrations and growth was investigated 39 and 56 days after sowing.As the CPPFs was elevated, all growth parameters of the three varieties significantly increased.The leaf areas in the second investigation were not different among varieties in all treatment solutions except 50 mgL -1 and those increased by more than twice compared to the first investigation.The 'AT Sinhotan' pepper had a wider leaf area than other varieties.In the treatments with CPPFs of 150 mgL -1 or higher at 56 days after sowing, a greater number of flower buds and bloomed flowers were observed, but only flower buds were observed in the treatments with CPPFs of 100 mgL -1 or lower.In addition, the tissue content of inorganic elements including total nitrogen tended to increase as the CPPFs was elevated.The above results indicate that the optimum CPPFs is 150 mgL -1 or higher when hot pepper seedlings are raising in root media with EC of 0.3 dSm -1 or lower.The elevated fertilizer concentrations would increase seedling quality and shorten the raising duration.