Evaluation of Organic–PLUS Foliar Fertilizer in Combination with NPK 15-15-15 Fertilizer on the Growth and Yield of Chilli Pepper (Capsicum Frutescens)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in the 2008 and 2009 farming seasons at the Faculty of Agriculture teaching and Research Farm of Enugu State University of Science and Technology, to evaluate the effect of Organic-PLUS foliar fertilizer combined with NPK 15-15-15 inorganic fertilizer on the growth and yield of Chilli pepper in an ultisol in Southeastern Nigeria. Five rates of application of Organic – PLUS foliar fertilizer (0,1200, 1400, 1600 and 1800 mls ha-1) combined with 100kg ha-1 of 15-15-15 fertilizer, respectively were set up in the field using Randonmized Complete Block Design and replicated four times. The statistical results of the study indicated that the different Organic- PLUS fertilizer treatments significantly (p=0.05) affected the plant height, number of leaves, leaf area index, number of fruits and fresh fruit weight of chilli pepper. These results suggest that among the different rates studied 1600 ml ha-1 of Organic - PLUS foliar fertilizer in combination with 100kg ha-1 of NPK 15-15-15 gave the best growth and yield of Chilli pepper.