Effect of liquid vermicompost mixture on yield and plant development in pepper and eggplant

Pepper and Eggplant are among the most cultivated vegetables in the world, have various consumption areas and have rich nutritional value. In recent years, unconscious use of chemical fertilizers in the world has caused serious damage to the natural and human environment. There have been trends towards the use of organic fertilizers to improve this situation. Therefore, it is important to identify suitable organic fertilizer sources and apply them. In this study, it was aimed to determine the effects of liquid worm castings, one of the important organic fertilizer sources, on plant development, some quality characteristics and nutrient content in pepper and eggplant cultivation. The study was carried out between April and August 2022 in the greenhouse belonging to the Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Malatya Turgut Özal University, and Kandil F1 pepper variety and Kemer F1 eggplant variety were used. This research, which was carried out as a greenhouse trial, included 6 applications (chemical fertilizer, control, 500 cc/da liquid worm manure, 1000 cc/da liquid worm manure, 1500 cc/da liquid worm manure, 2000 cc/da liquid worm manure). There were 3 replications and each replication consisted of 12 plants. 180 seedlings were planted for each variety, 360 seedlings in total. In order to examine the effects of the applications made in the trial, development parameters and quality traits were analyzed in pepper and eggplant plants. When the results were examined, it was seen that Durak applications, which are liquid worm manure mixture, were more effective in total yield, leaf dry weight, stem diameter, chlorophyll amount, fruit flesh firmness and fruit width in pepper plants. In eggplant, it was seen that Durak applications were more effective in yield, fruit weight, fruit flesh firmness, fruit length, fruit width and chlorophyll amount.