IN-ROW PLANT SPACING AFFECTS GROWTH AND YIELD OF FOUR HOT PEPPER CULTIVARS

An on-farm trial was conducted to determine optimum plant spacing for West Indian hot pepper (Capsicum chinense L) cultivars. 'Habanero," West Indian Red' and two 'Scotch Bonnet' hot pepper cultivars were planted at three in-row spacings of 41, 46 and 61 cm. All treatment plots consisted of three rows with constant row spacing of 0.91m. The experimental design was three randomized complete blocks of split- plots. The in-row spacings were the main plots and the cultivars were the subplots. Data collected included plant height at first harvest, number and fresh weight of fruits, number of harvests and production period. Yield was estimated by computation of the numbers of plants per hectare factored by the average yield weight per plant. Optimum planting density for 'Jamaica (Red) Scotch Bonnet' and 'Yellow Scotch Bonnet' was at the widest in-row spacing of 61 cm. The 'Scotch Bonnets' also showed a trend of taller plants producing more of fruits as in-row plant spacing was increased. Differences in yield response of cultivars to in-row spacing was significant (P< 0.05), however, yields from 'Habanero' and 'West Indies Red' were less affected. Analysis revealed that yield was mostly influenced by cultivar. In-row spacing x cultivar interaction was not as significant. This study indicates that in-row spacing for attaining the best yield is highly variable for hot pepper cultivars