Influence of Agricultural Practices on Soil Properties and Fruit Nutrient Contents of Bell Pepper

Taleb R. Abu-Zahra¹, Rakad A. Ta’any²*, Alaeddin B. Tahboub² and Samih M. Abu-Baker¹

1Department of Plant Production and Protection, 2Department of Water Resources and Environmental Management, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Al-Balqa’ Applied University, As Salt 19117 Jordan.

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/1158

ABSTRACT: Bell pepper is an economic product that widely used in the world. The total of Bell pepper and Chile pepper production of the world is about 25 million metric tons, while in Jordan about 5,000 ha are planted by bell pepper annually.During the 2010/2011 season,an experiment was carried out under plastic-house conditions at the Station of Princess Tasneem Bent Ghazi for Technological Research at Humrat Al-Sahen.To compare the effect of four fermented organic matter sources (cattle, poultry and sheep manure in addition to 1:1:1 mixture of the three organic matter sources), with that of the conventional treatment on soil properties and fruit nutrient content of bellpepper cultivar Marvello by using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replicates.Conventional treatment had a significant higher effect on the soil pH, EC, N, P, K and Na. Fruit nitrate content was within the acceptable levels. A high content of micronutrients (Zn and Fe) were observed in the conventionally treated bell pepper fruits.In addition, the bell pepper fruit content of minerals was higher in conventional treatment than all other organic treatments. The highest yield per plant was obtained by the conventional treatment, in comparison to other treatments. Although the reduction in yield per plant and the total yield reduction was about 20 % less than conventional farming, but the increase in profit was almost doubled due to higher prices of organic bell peppers.

KEYWORDS: Soil properties; Plastic house; Nutrients; Organic Matter; Nitrate

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