The effects of dripping irrigation on yield and quality characteristics of different ornamental pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.) populations under Kahramanmaraş conditions

This study was conducted to determine the effects of irrigation on yield and quality characteristics of different pepper varieties grown under the ecological conditions of Kahramanmaraş during 2003 and 2004 years. The experiment was arranged using split plot design with different irrigation treatment as main plots and varieties as sub plots with three replications. Varieties of different pepper involved C.. frutescens 37, C. frutescens M9, C. frutescens M5, C. frutescens M2, C. frutescens 35. Irrigation treatment included 4 h/week, 5 h/week, 6 h/week. In the resulted, populations of ornamental pepper used to trial, the average of plant height (44.60-70.77 cm), number of branches (5.44-8.44 number/plant), width of fruit (0.68-0.95 cm), height of fruit (4.35-6.85 cm), number of fruit (75.93-156.93 number/plant), fruit weight (33.30-73.79 kg/da), dried weight (10.11-21.39 kg/da), proportions of dried/fresh weight (% 22.76-37.98) and proportions of capsaicin (0.345-3.650 mg/g) beetwen exchanged. The highest yield components and proportions of capsaicin were obtained when irrigation 5 h/week. Key words: Pepper (C. frutescens L), Drip Irrigation, Yield, Capsaicin