2006 BELL PEPPER VARIETY EVALUATION TRIALS

Transcription

1 26 BELL PEPPER VARIETY EVALUATION TRIALS In Sn Joquin County University of Cliforni Coopertive Extension 42 South Wilson Wy Stockton, CA

2 26 BELL PEPPER VARIETY EVALUATION TRIAL In Sn Joquin County Conducted by: Benny Fouché, Frm Advisor, UCCE Sn Joquin County nd Debr Boelk, Stff Reserch Associte, UCCE Sn Joquin County Contributing Authors: Bob Mullen, Frm Advisor Emeritus, UCCE Sn Joquin County Scott Whiteley, Extension Field Technicin, UCCE Sn Joquin County Don Colbert, Extension Reserch Field Assistnt, UCCE Sn Joquin County Rndll Wittie, Extension Reserch Field Assistnt, UCCE Sn Joquin County Cliforni is the lrgest producer of bell peppers in the United Sttes with 23, cres in production in 25 (1). According to the 25 Agriculturl Report for Sn Joquin County produced by the Agriculturl Commissioner s Office, Sn Joquin County hd out 1,226 cres of ll types of peppers (primrily bell peppers) for both fresh mrket nd processing. Tht crege is estimted to hve incresed slightly for the 26 growing seson. A look t the ten-yer trend in pepper production in the County shows tht crege hs stedily declined while crop vlue hs remined out the sme (Figure 1). Most of the production in this re occurs during midsummer into lte fll. ACRES YEAR Being grown under short dy, cool night conditions mens tht disese pressure is greter on our peppers here thn in other drier loctions. Drip irrigting is one wy to help control disese estlishment nd spred under our growing conditions. Under furrow irrigted conditions it is importnt to closely monitor the field for the development of Phytophthor root rot, which cn develop from over ppliction of wter; or powdery mildew, whose development is fvored by humid conditions. With drip irrigtion the forementioned conditions re mitigted by precise ppliction of wter to the root zone. In our field this yer we only noted minor insect dmge nd physiologicl disorders (stink bug stings nd Pepper Spot). Seed compnies continue to test nd relese new pepper cultivrs which ddress the issue of diseses such s Blck Mold, Powdery Mildew, Phytophthor, certin viruses, nd physiologicl disorders such s Pepper Spot nd Blossom end rot. The requirement for vrieties tht hve high yield potentil nd possess excellent horticulturl chrcteristics is essentil to the continued economic helth of the pepper industry. All the bell pepper vrieties in this yer s tril contined virus resistnce to t lest one, nd in some cses severl, virus(es). Even some of the specilty peppers hve incorported certin virus resistnce. The complex of virus diseses (cucumber mosic, pepper mottle, tobcco etch, potto virus Y, ring spot, nd/or tobcco mosic virus) tht hve plgued this re for the pst 15+ yers nd tht led to mny growers ndoning pepper production hve not been bd since There is no evidence s to whether this is due to lower virus pressure, the plnting of more virus-resistnt vrieties or the fct tht the few pepper fields tht remin re isolted from virl vectors. But perhps the reduction in virl problems will stimulte resurgence in cultivting peppers Millions of Dollr SJ Acrege Crop Vlue Figure 1 1

3 We welcomed bck Lrry Togninli into pepper production this yer nd estlished our tril t Togninli Frms ner Hwy 4 nd Jck Tone Rod, est of Stockton, Cliforni. This yer s tril sought to look t yield nd fruit qulity of number of estlished nd new bell pepper lines from commercil seed compny breeders. Additionlly, n observtionl tril of sixteen specilty sweet peppers ws included to provide smll, specilty pepper growers with some comprtive informtion. The tril ws trnsplnted on My 8th nd the field vriety ws Bron. The soil type t the tril site ws Stockton dobe cly nd the tril field ws drip irrigted throughout the seson. The resulting crop stnd ws excellent with vigorous plnt growth. An extended nd very cool, wet spring cused lte plnting of erly crops, nd subsequent het wve in erly My nd gin in July cused some loss of fruit set nd dely in fruit mturity. The tril contined fifteen replicted vrieties on rndomized complete block nd fifteen non-replicted, observtionl vrieties. Hnd hrvest of the tril ws on August 15, 26, which my hve been too erly for some of the specilty peppers to put on the mximum mount of colored fruit, s their mturity dtes vried widely. In ddition to mrketle red nd green yield figures for bell peppers nd colored nd immture yield figures for specilty peppers, dt on crop mturity, fruit size nd wll thickness were tken. In the tril, highest yield of red plus green mrketle fruit ws chieved by Syngent s RPP 9661, followed by Double Up, Bron nd RPP 965 (now clled Cyprus). Best qulity fruit, including blocky shpe, nd good fruit color nd size (Extr-lrge to Lrge) ws led by RPP 965. RPP 9661 nd Skt s SPP 113 lso showed well in both size ctegories. Those peppers tht prolificlly produced Lrge fruits, but were lgging in Extr-lrge fruit production were Bron, Wizrd, Excel, Affinity, Hrris Morn s HMX 5634 nd Seminis PX Fruit size for most of the lines evluted ws predomintely Extr-lrge nd Lrge. There ws fir mount of fruit sunburn nd some blossom end rot, but very little ct-fced fruit. There ws virtully no worm dmge in the tril, but stink bug dmge ws present. Very little of the fruit from ny of the cultivrs hd Pepper Spot (STIP). Tle 3 contins complete dt for the tril on mrketle yield, fruit mturity t hrvest, fruit size nd fruit wll thickness. Grphs ccompnying the tle follow. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Mny thnks nd gret del of pprecition re expressed to Lrry Togninli (Togninli Frms) for n excellent job of crop mngement in very difficult growing seson. His help nd coopertion in the conduct nd mintennce of the vriety tril ws invlule. Also much pprecition is extended to Todd nd Grnt Crven of Crven Trnsplnts ner Crows Lnding, Cliforni, for the excellent qulity trnsplnts of ll vrieties provided for the vriety tril. Thnks lso to Lockehrt Seeds Inc. nd Skt Seeds for providing the rw mterils nd/or monetry ssistnce to support the bell pepper vriety evlution progrm in Sn Joquin County. Seeds for the observtionl tril were obtined from Tomto Growers Supply Compny t Tle 1. BELL PEPPER VARIETIES SEED LIST 26 BELL PEPPER VARIETY TRIAL Affinity Encore Replicted Vrieties RPP 965 RPP 9661 RPP 169 Seed Compny Syngent Seed (Rogers Brnd) Double Up Excel XPP 225 (Red Bull) SPP 113 Skt Seed Americ, Inc. Wizrd Bron PX99342 PX Seminis Seeds HMX 5634 HMX 5633 Hrris Morn 2

4 Tle 2. OBSERVATIONAL VARIETIES Erly Sunstion Blocky, green to golden-yellow Twny Port Blocky, brown Purple Beuty Blocky, ripe from green to purple Vidi Elongted bell, deep red when ripe, thin-wlled Golden Mrconi Tpered nd yellow to 12 inches long Lfyette Blocky, green to yellow Gint Mrconi Big, Itlin sweet Golden Clwonder Blocky, golden yellow Hershey Blocky, ripe from green to deep brown Chocolte Beuty Blocky drk brown; mture from green to brown; med-lg Corno Verde Thick-wlled, 6-8+ inches long; Anheim-looking Gint Aconcqu Tpered fruit to 12 inches long; thinner-wlled thn Corno Verde Tequil Blocky, lvender to yellow to ornge to red Purple Belle Blocky, green to purple to red t mturity Vlenci Blocky, pumpkin ornge

5 Tle 3. Yield, mturity, fruit size percent nd wll thickness for 15 bell pepper vrieties Frmington, CA 26 Mrketle yield/ cre (red + green) Crop mturity t hrvest (%) 1 Fruit size (%) 1 & 2 Fruit wll thickness Vriety Tons 1 Boxes Red Green STIP Culls Jumbo Extrlrge Lrge Medium Smll mm 1 RPP Double Up Bron RPP Wizrd PX PX Excel XPP Encore RPP Affinity HMX HMX SPP Averge LSD C.V. 26.8% 26.8% 1 Vlues represent the verge of four replictions 2 Averge of four replictions nd five fruit rndomly smpled per vriety per repliction 3 Lest significnt difference t 5% significnce level Pepper fruit sizing dt: Jumbo: >24g; Extr-lrge: 2 24g; Lrge: 17 2g; Medium: 15 17g; Smll: <15g 4

6 Figure 1. Bell pepper vrieties Crop Mturity t Hrvest Weight in tons per cre CULL GREEN RED XPP 225 Double Up Excel SPP 113 HMX 5634 HMX 5633 RPP 965 RPP 169 RPP 9661 Encore Affinity Bron Wizrd PX PX Figure 2. Slele peppers, combined reds nd greens Weight in tons / cre XPP 225 Double Up Excel SPP 113 HMX 5634 HMX 5633 RPP 965 RPP 169 RPP 9661 Encore Affinity Bron Wizrd PX PX

7 Figure 3. Specilty pepper yield by mturity clss Weight in tons/cre Specilty Pepper Mturity t Hrvest Erly Sunstion Twny Port Purple Beuty Vidi Mrconi Golden Lfeyette Gint Mrconi Golden Clwonder Hershey Chocolte Beuty Corno Verde Gint Aconcqu Tequil Purple Belle Vlenci Cull Immture Colored non-replicted Tle 4. Specilty pepper fruit size t mturity, percent of totl fruit weight Fruit size (%) * Type Extrlrge Lrge Medium Smll Vriety Jumbo 1 Bell Erly Sunstion Bell Twny Port Bell Purple Beuty Long Vidi Long Golden Mrconi Bell Lfyette Long Gint Mrconi Bell Golden Clwonder Bell Hershey Bell Chocolte Beuty Long Corno Verde Long Gint Aconcgu Bell Tequil Bell Purle Belle Bell Vlenci Fruit sizing dt: All Long Types (except Gint Mrconi) - Jumbo 16g - 18 g Extr Lrge 14g - 16g Lrge 12g - 14g Medium 1g - 12g Smll <1g Gint Mrconi- Jumbo 2g - 22 g Extr Lrge 18g - 2g Lrge 16g - 18g Medium 14g - 16g Smll <14g Bell Types- Jumbo 16g - 18 g Extr Lrge 14g - 16g Lrge 12g - 14g Medium 1g - 12g Smll <1g * non-replicted 6

8 Figure 4. Wll thickness of bell peppers in mm vriety verge XPP 225 Do uble Up Excel SPP 113 HMX 5634 HMX 5633 RPP 965 RPP 169 RPP 9661 Enco re Affinity Bron Wizrd PX PX Wll thickness ws mesured in ll bell nd specilty peppers. There ws no significnt difference in wll thickness mong ny of the bell vrieties, s seen in Figures 2. The specilty vrieties Gint Mrconi, Mrconi Golden nd Twny Port hd significntly(*) thinner wlls thn those of the remining vrieties. This is interesting becuse n necdotl observtion ws tht the specilty peppers Gint Mrconi nd Mrconi Golden, nd the bell types of Wizrd, Bron nd RP965 seemed to be of the best qulity for rosting; retining firm met nd possessing skins which slipped esily. We hope to look further into this reltionship in next yer s tril. Figure 5. Wll thickness of specilty peppers in mm b b b Erly Sunstion Twny Port Purple Beuty Vidi Mrconi Golden Lfeyette Gint Mrconi Golden Clwonder Hershey Chocolte Beuty Corno Verde Gint Aconcqu Tequil Purple Belle Vlenci 7