Effect of organic fertilizers on apparent nitrogen utilization and yield of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) as influenced by fertilizer timing

<p>A glasshouse experiment was carried out at the University of Natural resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria<br>during the months of April to September in both 2012 and 2013 to investigate the effect of organic fertilizers on<br>apparent nitrogen utilization and yield of sweet pepper as influenced by fertilizer timing. In two subsequent<br>years, sweet peppers were grown in glasshouse and fertilized with 20 g N/m2 as Maltaflor®-spezial, coarse meal<br>of fababean and horn at different times within a 30 cm wide fertilizer-band. The experiment was laid out in a<br>Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications. Data was recorded on the various parameters and<br>subjected to statistical analysis. Yields of tomatoes, plant N uptake and apparent N utilization obtained with<br>Maltaflor®-spezial or fababean were comparable to those of horn in both years. The apparent N utilization did<br>not exceed 19-33 % in the first year (2012) due to a high N uptake in the control, but increased in the following<br>year (2013) to 26-57 %, because of the poorer growth in the unfertilized control. There were marked differences in<br>the amount of NO3<br>--N remaining in soil during and after cultivation, so that the N supply by Maltaflor®-spezial<br>was higher compared to fababean and horn. Split application of a readily available organic fertilizer could be<br>promising and an additional N mineralization could be expected by a regular hoeing of formerly fertilized plots.