1) Botanical
Name: Capsicum annum L.
2) Family:
Solanaceae
3) Chromosome
No: 2n = 24
4) Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Plantae
Class: Angiosperm
Order: Solanales
Genus: Capsicum
5) Origin:
· It is a native of Mexico and Guatemala.
6) Common name: Shimla Mirch
7) Importance and Utility:
· Capsicum have important role in our daily
diet.
· They are used to increased the
palatability and taste of cooked vegetables.
· They are used to prepare pickles, soups,
Sauce etc. and it is also cooked as a vegetable and also mixed with potato.
8) Climatic requirement:
Table 35 Climatic requirement of Capsicum
Name of crop
|
Day (0C)
|
Night (0C)
|
Humidity (%)
|
Light intensity
(Lux)
|
Capsicum
|
21-28
|
18-20
|
60-65
|
50000-60000
|
9) Varieties:
· Open-pollinated
capsicums still dominate the market but more recently a number of hybrids are
becoming popular among the growers. Hybrids are superior in yield and quality
fruits.
· Open-pollinated
varieties are Arka Mohini, Arka Gaurav, Arka Basant, California Wonder and Pusa
Deepti. Bharat, Indra, Sun 1090 and Green Gold are popular hybrids.
10) Raising seedlings:
· The seeds of capsicum should be sown in a
plug tray. The plug tray should be filled with Cocopeat.
·
The seeds should
be treated with Thiram or Bavistin @ 2g/kg.
· Seedlings are ready for transplanting 4-5
weeks after sowing.
11) Fumigation Process:
· It is marketed as Formalin, an aqueous
solution, which contains 37-40% formaldehyde, which has a poor penetration and
diffusion ability.
· The Formalin used for sterilization
should be mixed with water in 1:10 proportion. For drenching Formalin is used
at the rate of 7.5 lit for 100 sq. mt. i.e. 37.5 lit of
Formalin will be required for 500-sq.mt polyhouse.
· After drenching, planting is done after
two weeks, this method is not effective against nematodes and it should not to
be used in a standing crop.
12) Bed Preparation:
· Raised bed of following dimension is
prepared.
· Top width- 90cm
· Height - 40
cm
· Bottom width of bed – 100cm
13) Planting Distance:
· 40 cm between two plants
· 50 cm between two rows
--> 60 X 60 Cm also use
14) Planting material:
· Disease free seedlings of three to four
weeks old are used for transplanting, with ideal seedling height of 16-18cms.
15) Planting method:
· Two rows of Capsicum seedlings are
planted in a zigzag method on the bed.
16) Steps in plantation of Capsicum:
· Pebbles, clods etc. should be removed
from bed surface.
· Adequate moisture must be available in
the soil at the time of plantation.
· The seedlings should be dipped in
Bavistin (0.2 %) solution at the time of plantation.
· Plantation to be done by making holes or
trenches on bed in a zigzag method
· Planting should be avoided during the
hottest period of the day/year & should normally be done during morning
hours or late in the evening.
17) Care after plantation:
· The soil around the plants must be kept
humid but not soaking wet.
· Irrigate the plant with hose pipe
immediately after plantation. During periods with strong sunshine or high
temperature, the young plants must frequently be given an over head spray of
water to assist establishment & reduce post planting losses.
· For first three weeks the irrigation
should be done only by using hose sprayer & later on irrigation should be
done by drip system.
18) Planting density:
Planting density
Sr. No.
|
Area of poly house (m2)
|
Planting density
|
Total plants required
|
1
|
560
|
2.5- 3.5 plants/ m2
|
1400- 1960
|
2
|
1008
|
2.5-3.5 plants/ m2
|
2520- 3528
|
19) Fungicide drenching schedule:
Fungicide
drenching schedule
Sr. No.
|
Fungicide
|
Dose
|
Time of
drenching
|
1
|
Bavistin
|
1 g/litre
|
Immediately
after plantation
|
2
|
M – 45
|
1 g/litre
|
3 days after
plantation
|
3
|
Bavistin
|
1.5 g/litre
|
7 days after
plantation
|
4
|
M – 45
|
1.5 g/litre
|
10 days after
plantation
|
5
|
Bavistin
|
2 g/litre
|
14 days after
plantation
|
6
|
M – 45
|
2 g/litre
|
17 days after
plantation
|
· Quantity of water 50 ml/plants to be used
while drenching.
20) Irrigation:
· Frequent irrigation is essential for
plant growth, fruiting and yield.
· The crop should be irrigated at 3-6 days
interval.
· However during summer more irrigation is
required due to higher surface evaporation.
· Now a days Drip method of irrigation is
practiced. Drip system is highly economical and produces quality capsicums.
21) Manures
and Fertilizers:
· 9
to 10 tones / hectare of FYM or compost are applied at the time of field
preparation.
· In
capsicum 100 kg N, 50kg P & 50 kg K should be applied per hectare.
· Fertilizers
are applied in four equal doses.
· First
applied at the time transplanting remaining doses are applied at 4th, 11th
& 13th week after transplanting.
22) Mulching:
· The most common straw mulch to be applied
to soil when capsicums are about 2feet height.
· The mulch reduces evaporation of water
from the soil and prevents compaction of the soil surface.
· White (reflective) plastic mulches are
recommended to control weeds, conserve moisture, reduce humidity and improve
light conditions and also to avoid soil contact and prevent diseases.
23) Cultural Practices:
· Capsicum is a nine months to one year
crop and production starts after 60 to 75 days from the date of plantation. The
different cultural practices to be carried out are as below:
a) Crop support:
· Some varieties are very vigorous &
plant can become as tall as 3.5 m and they produce about 4 - 5 kg fruits on one
plant in their life cycle.
· As stems are weak, they need support
system.
· Plant stem after transplantation is tied
by a high density plastic or nylon string.
· Twines are vertical ropes that are tied
to horizontal wires on the ceiling at one end and to the crop at another end.
· Twines of good quality are used to hang
from horizontal wires at least
3 m above the ground
· Horizontal wire used should not have
thickness less than 12 gauges, as it supports the weight of all plants in the
row. If the wire is weak it will break and lead to losses.
· Three rows of over head horizontal wires
are required for one bed and for each single plant four numbers of twines are
required.
b) Topping
· The
growing point at the top of the plant is removed. This operation is called
topping.
· This
technique is adopted for producing more branches.
· This
is practiced after one month period from transplantation.
· After
topping two or four main leaders are kept where as the lateral shoots is
pinched first leaf (internodes) or second leaf (internodes).
· One
or two fruits per side shoot are maintained.
24) Training in capsicum:
a)
Two
– leader system of training:
· In
this system of training two main shoots are maintained as two leaders after
topping.
· Side
shoots are pinched after one or two pairs of leaves; generally one fruit is
kept per side shoot.
b) Four
- leader system:
· In
this system of training four main shoots are maintained as four leaders after
topping.
· Side
shoots are pinched after one or two pairs of leaves; generally one fruit is
kept per side shoot.
25) Fruit
thinning
· When
there are too many fruits on the plant, it is necessary to remove some fruits,
to promote the development of remaining fruits. This operation is called as
fruit thinning.
· Fruit
thinning is done when the fruit is of pea size.
· This
practice is normally followed to increase the size of fruit thus by increasing
the quality of production.
26) Pollination:
· Capsicums
are self pollinating but there is high degree of cross pollination because of
honey bees, thrips and other insects that transfer pollen from blossom to
blossom.
· Pollination
is not improved by using an “electric bees” or by spraying plant hormones but
pollination is clearly better when honey bees or bumble bees fly in the green
house.
· Bees
increase the number of seeds in capsicum fruits.
27) Maturity indices:
· Harvesting of capsicum is done at green,
breaker and coloured (red/ yellow etc.) stage.
· It depends upon the purpose for which it
is grown and distance for the ultimate market.
· In India fruits are harvested at breaker
stage for long distant markets.
· For local market, it is better to harvest
coloured stage.
· Breaker stage is the one when 10% of the
fruit surface is coloured and when more than 90% of the fruit surface is
coloured it is considered as coloured stage.
28) Harvesting:
· Harvesting starts after 60 to 75 days
after transplanting & should be done with the help of sharp knife.
· Harvesting at the proper stage of
maturity, careful and minimal handling of the produce will help in maintaining
better fruit quality and reduce storage losses.
· Harvesting is generally done during
morning and evening hours.
· Avoid harvesting immediately after
fogging to check the disease and pest under control and to maintain better
keeping quality of fruit.
29) Yield
· 8 to 10 kg/ m2.
· 4 kg per plant/year
· 5000kg or 5 tons per 500 sqm area per
year
· Harvesting of capsicum is done by skilled
worker in green house and kept in plastic containers and send to the packaging
hall.
30) Post harvest:
a) Cleaning and Grading:
All damaged, malformed and bruised capsicums should be
removed. Those with dirt adhering to their surface can be cleaned
by wiping the surface with a moist soft cloth. The capsicums should be graded
into same size and colour lots according to market requirements.
b) Sorting:
Sorting is done on the basis of shape and weight of
capsicum.
c) Packing:
· Capsicum is packed in cartons and should
hold about 10 kg or 12 kg of capsicum.
· Mostly farmers use apple boxes (used
ones) for packaging capsicum for local market.
v An ideal corrugated boxes carries
following in formation.
· On top side of the lid “Fresh vegetables”
is printed.
· On width wise side of the lid “Variety,
number of capsicums, gross and net weight of box, box number is written on both
sides.
· On length wise side of the lid “Fresh
vegetable and handle with care is written on both sides.”
· Senders and buyers address with phone
number.
d) Storage :
Capsicums can be stored in a cool room at a temperature of
7–10 °C for up to 3 weeks if required.
31) Insect-Pest
and its control:
a) Chilli Thrips:
Thrips is the common pest which affects the crop throughout
its life cycle. But they are more severe when plants begin to flower. These
small insects suck the sap from the foliage and lacerate the leaf tissue, which
result in curling of leaves and fall down of flowers prematurely.
· Control Measures:
Thrips can effectively be controlled by spraying carbaryl
50 W @ 3 gm or Zolene @ 3 ml or Dimethoate (Rogor 30 EC) or Monocrotophos
(Monocil) 1 ml per litre of water at fortnightly interval
b) Pod Borer:
The caterpillar oat leaves and later on bores the pod,
which result in the deterioration of quality and market price of the product.
· Control Measures:
The control measures are timely spraying the crop with
quinalphos (Exalux-25 EC) @ 4 ml or carbaryl 50 W, (Sevin 50 W) @ 3 gm per
litre of water, starting from flower bud formation.
c) Aphids:
Aphid sucks the sap from the plants; they generally attack the
crop in winter months and at the later stages of the crop. The quality of the
produce is spoiled by imparting blackish colour to the Calyx and pods. They
also serve as a Vector to Virus,
· Control Measures:
The aphids can effectively be controlled by spraying the
crop with Dimethoate (Rogor-30 EC) or Methyl Parathion (Metacid 50 EC) @ lm (or
Phosphamidon (Demicron-100 EC) @ 0.5 ml per litre of whiter.
32) Disease
and its control:
a) Damping Off:
It is a serious disease of Brinjal seedlings and mainly
occurs in nursery bed. The disease infected seedlings rot at ground level and
then the plants fall over ground. The seedlings die in patches.
· Control Measures:
1. The seed bed should be treated with
Formalin before sowing of seeds.
2. The seeds should be treated without water
(30 minutes at 520 C) or Cerasan or Agrosan before sowing of seed.
3. The seedlings in the nursery should be
sprayed with any fungicides at a regular interval.
b) Bacterial Leaf Spot:
Small dark, greasy spots are formed on leaf, petiole and
tender parts, of the plant. Water soaked spots appear on green fruits. In
severe cases the leaf may drop off arid cause considerable loss to the crop.
· Control Measures:
Spraying Agrimycin - 100 k at 200 ppm plus copper
oxychloride 0.3 per cent controls the disease effectively.
c) Anthracnose:
Dark sunken spots are formed of fruits and pink or dark
coloured dots appear in the centre of the sunken spots. Due to this spots, the
fruits rot and fall, the fungus may cause "Die back" of the twigs
also. Die back disease attacks mainly the upper portion of the plants spreading
gradually from the top to downward; as a result the branches dry up. Moist
weather, shade and heavy dew favour the occurrence of the disease.
· Control Measures:
The control measures are the treatment of seed with Cerasan
before sowing, removing and burning of attacked plants or branches and spraying
the disease affected crops with Mancozeb (Dithane M-45) @ 2.5 gm per litre of
water.
d) Leaf Curl:
The disease affected leaves becomes small in size
accompanied by downward curling. The leaves may fall off in case of sever
attack. The disease usually spreads through insect vectors such as thrips and
aphids etc.
· Control Measures:
Control of insect vectors by spraying the crop with
Dimethoate (Rogor -30 EC) or Monocrotophos (Monocil) @ 1 ml per litre of water
indirectly helps to check the spread of this disease.
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