EFFECT OF COMPOST AND SEAWEED EXTRACT ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MARKETABLE FRUITS OF TWO SWEET PEPPER (Capsicum annuum L.) HYBRIDS

الملخص

The experiment was conducted on two hybrids (Massouda and Chahin) sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in the field of the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Duhok during growing season of 2018, to study the effects of three levels of artificial compost in soil (0:0, 1:1, 1:3 v/v) and four concentrations of seaweed extract spray (Tecamin algae) (0.0, 0.5, 0.75, 1 ml.l^-1) on Massouda F1 and Chahin F1 hybrids. The results shows that Massouda hybrid significantly recorded higher fruit dry weight and vitamin C, whereas Chahin hybrid were overcome significantly from Massouda in chlorophyll a and b. The high level 1:1 compost significantly increased fruit dry weight, vitamin C and total carbohydrate, while the level 1:3 compost significantly recorded higher chlorophyll a and lower fruit respiration rate compared to untreated hybrids with compost. However, the influence of high concentration (1 ml.l^-1) seaweed on the marketability pepper fruits was affected significantly and improved fruit dry weight, vitamin C, total carbohydrate, chlorophyll b and lower fruit respiration rate than untreated with seaweed except chlorophyll a which significantly increased in level (0.5 ml.l^-1) seaweed. On the other hand, the triple interactions among the three factors significantly enhanced all detected traits compared to untreated plants.