RESPONSE OF SWEET PEPPER VARIETIES TO DIFFERENT LEVELS OF CHITOSAN RAW MATERIAL POWDER

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during the period from October, 2019 to April 2020, to study the response of sweet pepper varieties to different levels of chitosan raw material powder. The experiment was consisted of two factors, and followed Completely Random Design (CRD) with seven replications. Factor A: Sweet pepper varieties viz (2): V 1 : BARI Sweet pepper 1 and V : BARI Sweet pepper 2; and Factor B: Application of different levels of chitosan raw material powder viz (4); C 2 0 = 0%, C = 0.5% and C = 1% chitosan raw material powder. Result revealed that the highest fruit yield plant 3 -1 pot -1 (139.18 g) was recorded in V (BARI sweet pepper 2) treatment. Application of 1 % chitosan raw material powder (C 2 ) played a major role for plant growth and yield of sweet peppers and it's also influenced soil characteristics. The highest number of fruits plant -1 3 1 = 0.1%, C (3.07), fruit yield plant (157.29 g), soil pH (6.5), soil total nitrogen content (0.12 %), organic carbon (0.76 %) and organic matter (1.31 %) were recorded in C treatment. Increasing chitosan levels influenced plant growth and development and the highest fruit yield plant 3

pot -1 (188.43 g) was recorded in BARI sweet pepper 2 cultivation along with application of 1 % chitosan raw material powder (V 2 C ). From these results it can be concluded that yield and yield contributing characters of sweet peppers and some chemical properties of soil were improved due to the application of chitosan raw material powder. Taken together, our results suggest that chitosan raw material powder have some positive effect on slow releasing nitrogen supplementation, soil organic carbon and soil pH which influenced plant growth, development and yield.