Studies on yield, quality, water and fertilizer use efficiency of capsicum under drip irrigation and fertigation

Abstract

Drip irrigation and fertigation system are being adopted due to their numerous advantages over traditional methods of irrigation and fertilizer application. In this study, capsicum var. Nishat-1 was grown under drip irrigation with fertigation. The experiment was carried out in a factorial RBD consisted of 16 treatment combinations replicated four times. The treatments include four levels of irrigation viz., 100, 80 and 60% ET through drip and 100% surface irrigation; and four levels of fertilizers application viz., 100, 80 and 60% recommended NPK through fertigation and 100% recommended NPK through manual. Surface irrigation and manual fertilizer application were treated as control. The results revealed that there was significant improvement in yield, quality, water and fertilizer use efficiencies of capsicum under drip irrigation and fertigation. However, the combined effect of drip irrigation and fertigation was found superior than their individual effects. The treatment combination of 80% ET through drip and 80% recommended NPK through fertigation registered maximum fruit yield (366.48 q/ha). The highest water use efficiency (29.40 q/ha-cm) was observed with the treatment combination of 60% ET through drip + 80% recommended NPK through fertigation. However, the fertilizer use efficiency was found maximum (NUE-4.89 q/kg N, PUE-6.53 q/ kg p and KUE-9.79 q/kg k) with the treatment combination of 80% ET though drip + 60% recommended NPK through fertigation.