Abstract

Data from two greenhouse experiments on sweet pepper (Capsisum annuum) cv. Mazurka were analyzed to investigate the effect of different shoot and root environments on the incidence of Blossom End Rot (BER) in the fruit. First experiment consisted of four combinations of treatments with two levels of EC namely high EC (HEC) 6.5 dS m-1 and low EC (LEC) 2.5 dS m-1 both under two levels of transpiration, high (HET) and suppressed (LET). Second experiment had four combination of treatments and consisted of two levels of volumetric water content in the root zone, high (HWC, 80%) and low (50%), with two fruit load treatments, normal (NFL) and manipulated (MFL). Analysis of data showed that high EC in the root zone had a strong effect on increasing incidence of BER under both transpiration rates. BER was positively correlated with weekly cumulative energy sum (average daily temperature x average daily radiation), initial fruit growth rate and average fruit size of healthy fruit. The data indicate that high average leaf area per growing fruit seems to be the central factor inducing BER. Therefore, it is suggested to prune old leaves of sweet pepper plants as being practiced with other greenhouse crops.