PLANT SIZE INFLUENCES BELL PEPPER SEED QUALITY AND YIELD

This study investigated the influence of plant size, as determined by plant density, and fruit load variation on the production and quality of bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) seeds. Six-week-old 'Resistant Gia nt no. 4' bell pepper seedlings were transplanted 15, 30,45, and 60 cm apart. Plants spaced 45 cm apart were not thinned or were thinned to one or three fruit per plant. Pepper plants grown at low plant densiti es produced larger fruit and seeds that germinated faster and at highe r percentages than plants grown at higher densities. Assimilate export rate (AER) increased linearly with plant spacing. At harvest, C excha nge rate (CER) and AER of plants with nonthinned fruit loads were almo st-equal-to 300% and 500% higher, respectively, than those of plants w ith one or three fruit. Fruit thinning decreased CER and AER; however, seeds produced by plants with one or three fruit had significantly hi gher germination percentages than plants with full fruit loads. These observations suggest that the high CERs of smaller plants with nonthin ned fruit loads may have been insufficient to compensate completely fo r the higher sink demands. Therefore, crop cultural practices that inc rease the ratio of pepper plant size to total fruit count may increase the quality of seeds produced by those plants.