Use of oxalic acid and chitosan to improve pepper yield and quality

Abstract

The importance of environmentally friendly agricultural practices in increasing the yield and nutritional value of crops is becoming more and more important day by day. This study was aimed to determine the effects of oxalic acid and chitosan treatments on pepper yield and quality. For this purpose, 3 different doses of oxalic acid (1, 3 and 5 mM), 3 different doses of chitosan (150, 300 and 450 ppm) and control were applied foliarly 3 times with 21 days intervals from seedling planting. It was found that oxalic acid and chitosan treatments had no significant effect on fruit width, flesh thickness, stem diameter, green colour value, chroma, hue, or beta carotene. Also, results showed that the treatments increased the yield values compared to the control, and the highest yield value was obtained in 450 ppm chitosan application. The highest values of fruit number, fruit weight and fruit length were obtained in 450 ppm and 150 ppm chitosan; 450 ppm chitosan and 5 mM oxalic acid; 5 mM oxalic acid treatments, respectively. The highest reducing sugar value was determined in 300 ppm chitosan application. While the highest lightness values were determined in 1 mM and 3 mM oxalic acid applications; the highest green colour values were obtained in 1 mM, 3 mM oxalic acid and 150 ppm chitosan applications. As a result of the study, it was found that 450 ppm dose of chitosan is recommended for pepper production, especially in terms of yield and yield parameters.

Keywords

• Capsicum annuum L
• oxalic acid
• chitosan
• yield
• biochemical content
• Manuel Tejada, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain