Ojective Centrl NC Orgnic Bell nd Hot Pepper Vriety Tril, Summer 2014 North Crolin A&T Stte University John Beck, Aron Moore, nd Dr. Snjun Gu NC A&T Frm, Greensoro, NC To evlute the performnce of some ell pepper nd hot pepper vrieties for orgnic production in centrl North Crolin. Mterils nd Methods The tril ws conducted t the North Crolin A&T Stte University Frm, Greensoro, NC. The field ws in yer one of the three-yer orgnic trnsition period. Seeds of ll eight ell pepper nd four hot pepper vrieties were certified orgnic (Tle 1). Design: Field plots were orgnized in rndomized complete lock design with twelve tretments (vrieties) nd three replictions (locks) per vriety. Twenty-six plnts were plnted in ech lock. Dt were collected from the center eight plnts in ech lock. Fertility: Certified orgnic compost (Brooks Contctor, Goldston, NC) ws spred t 12,000 pounds per cre nd tilled in efore forming eds. Beds were mde on My 7, 2014. After plnting, certified orgnic fish emulsion (2-2-.25; SF Orgnics, Thomson, IL) ws pplied t 5 ls/week/cre for 5 weeks strting July 1, 2014 t loom set. Plsticulture: Three-foot rised eds with lck plstic mulch (1.25mil) nd drip tpe (5/8, 8 mil, 12 emitter spcing) were formed using Rin-Flo rised ed plstic mulch lyer. Soil moisture ws monitored nd plots were irrigted s needed to supply 1.5-2 inches of wter per week (verge 2 hours per dy, 4 dys per week).
Plnting: All vrieties were sowed on April 29, 2014 in 1:1 (Sunshine No. 1 Nturl nd Orgnic: certified orgnic compost) plnting mix in greenhouse t the University Frm. Trnsplnts t the 4-5 lef stge were plnted on June 11, 2014 in doule rows with 18 inch etween- nd in-row spcing. A uckwhet cover crop ws plnted to the est nd south of the pepper plots on My 21, 2014, to ttrct pollintors nd nturl insect predtors. Tle 1. Pepper vrieties nd chrcteristics. Vriety Type Color Source Sweet Chocolte OP Bell Brown Johnny s Selected Seeds Olympus F1 Bell (Green)/Red High Mowing Orgnic Seeds Sweet Sunrise F1 Bell Yellow/Ornge Johnny s Selected Seeds King Crimson OP Bell Red High Mowing Orgnic Seeds Cl Wonder OP Bell Golden High Mowing Orgnic Seeds Melin F1 Bell Ornge High Mowing Orgnic Seeds Sprinter F1 Bell Red High Mowing Orgnic Seeds Aur F1 Bell Ornge Johnny s Selected Seeds Erly Jlpeno OP Hot, Jlpeno Green/(Red ) High Mowing Orgnic Seeds Hungrin Hot Wx OP Hot, Hot Wx Yellow/(Red) High Mowing Orgnic Seeds Highlnder F1 Hot, Anheim Green/(Red) Johnny s Selected Seeds Ancho 211 F1 Hot, Ancho Green/(Red) Johnny s Selected Seeds OP: open pollinted; F1: hyrid. Plnt mngement: Plnts were trellised using the Florid weve system. Weeds were controlled y the lck plstic, lthough some weeds tht grew in plnting holes were hnd pulled. Plots were monitored for Insect nd disese pests. Insect pests were mnged using n orgnic pproved pesticide, PyGnic (pyrethrins). Hrvest nd Dt Collection: Hrvest ws conducted one to two times per week from August 4 to Septemer 9, 2014 depending on growth. Fruit were grded to mrketle nd cull fruit, counted nd weighed (ls). Phenologicl dt were collected on dte nd node of first flower nd dte of oth green nd mture fruit color. Bloom dte is reported when 50% of plnts in ech cultivr hd open flowers. Dtes of fruit color re reported when 50% of fruit were green (full size) or the mture fruit color. Additionl dt were collected on disese infesttion t the end of the seson. Dt were nlyzed with XLSTAT using ANOVA. Sttisticl significnce is determined t α 0.05. Results nd Discussion Pests were mjor issue, resulting in low mrketle yields (Figs. 1 nd 2). The min insect pest ws stink ugs, resulting in loss of fruit mrketility cross ll plots, prticulrly in the ell pepper vrieties. Erly mturing hot pepper vrieties were less ffected y stink ugs. Stink ug popultions were not sufficiently mnged using only PyGnic. Additionlly, southern light (Sclerotium rolfsii) ws confirmed in the field nd resulted in high rte of plnt loss (verge 11.3
plnts per plot) throughout the seson (Tle 4). All plots, except for Erly Jlpeno, hd greter thn 50% infesttion. Improved orgnic control of stink ugs is possile nd mrketility could e incresed with lower insect pest pressure. Vrieties King Crimson, Sprinter, nd Aur were the est performing ell pepper vrieties in terms of yield nd fruit numer. Hungrin Hot Wx outperformed the other hot pepper vrieties in terms of yield, nd Erly Jlpeno produced the gretest numer of fruit (Tle 2). All vrieties reched 50% loom round one month fter plnting (Tle 3). Some of the erliest to loom (King Crimson, Hungrin Hot Wx nd Erly Jlpeno) were lso mong the highest yielding. The hot pepper vrieties were the fstest to rech fruit mturity, likely improving their yield over ell peppers y producing fruit efore southern light took over the field. This report only reflects our first yer tril results. Due to the severe dmge y stink ugs nd the high incidence of southern light, we re not redy to recommend ny of these vrieties to frmers who grow orgnic peppers. We will continue this reserch with more vrieties in 2015 with the gol of producing list of recommended orgnic pepper vrieties for centrl North Crolin. Acknowledgements The uthors would like to cknowledge Dr. Wenjing Gun in iding the dt nlyses nd Gen Moore for helping with dt collection. Figure 1. Bell pepper mrketle nd totl yield. 3 Pounds per plnt 2.5 2 1.5 1 * Sweet Chocolte Olympus Sweet Sunrise King Crimson Cl Wonder Melin Sprinter 0.5 Aur 0 Mrketle yield Totl yield *No sttisticl difference exists when two vrieties shre sme letter.
Figure 2. Hot pepper mrketle nd totl yield. 3 2.5 Pounds per plnt 2 1.5 1 * c Erly Jlpeno Hungrin Hot Wx Highlnder Ancho 211 0.5 0 Mrketle yield Totl yield *No sttisticl difference exists when two vrieties shre sme letter. Tle 2. Numer of mrketle nd totl fruit per plnt for ell nd hot pepper vrieties. Bell Pepper Vriety No. of mrketle fruit per plnt No. of totl fruit per plnt Sweet Chocolte 5.65 c* 18.12 Olympus 1.16 c 8.69 Sweet Sunrise 4.28 c 15.42 King Crimson 6.25 15.53 Cl Wonder 1.36 c 8.07 Melin 1.96 c 8.56 Sprinter 6.19 15.84 Aur 7.27 16.18 Hot Erly Jlpeno 40.53 69.43 Pepper Hungrin Hot 41.10 55.52 Wx Highlnder 15.60 28.95 c Ancho 211 21.30 23.22 c *Results with the sme letter re not significntly different t α=0.05.
Tle 3. Bell nd hot pepper first flower node, first flower loom dte nd fruit color dte. Bell Pepper Vriety The first flower node Bloom (DAT) Mture green c (DAT) Full color (DAT) Sweet Chocolte 6 29 58 68 Olympus 7 34 58 75 Sweet Sunrise 7 34 49 68 King Crimson 6 29 58 68 Cl Wonder 6 34 58 75 Melin 7 34 58 75 Sprinter 6 34 58 75 Aur 6 34 49 68 Erly Jlpeno 6 29 42 - Hungrin Hot Hot 6 29 49 54 Wx Pepper Highlnder 7 34 42 - Ancho 211 8 34 68 - DAT: dys fter trnsplnting (June 11, 2014). When vriety hd 50% loom. c When 50% fruit of vriety hd reched the full size t green stge or reched full color stge. Tle 4. Plnt loss nd infesttion due to Sclerotium rolfsii. Vriety No. of ded plnts Percent of plnts infested per plot Sweet Chocolte 12.0 * 61.3 Olympus 13.3 71.3 Sweet Sunrise 13.3 56.0 Bell King Crimson 10.0 75.0 Pepper Cl Wonder 6.7 66.3 Melin 9.3 54.7 Sprinter 11.7 69.0 Aur 8.7 66.3 Erly Jlpeno 6.7 17.3 Hot Hungrin Hot Wx 13.3 77.7 Pepper Highlnder 16.3 88.0 Ancho 211 14.3 71.3 *Results with the sme letter re not significntly different t α=0.05..
The Crolin Frm Stewrdship Assocition would like to thnk North Crolin A&T Stte University s John Beck, Aron Moore, nd Dr. Snjun Gu for permission to use this report in the SE Orgnic Seed nd Vriety Trils Report.