THE EFFECT OF BIOCHAR APPLICATION ON SOME PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF PEPPER (Capsicum annuum L.) IN DEFICIT IRRIGATION CONDITIONS

In this study, the effect of biochar, obtained from pruning waste of rose plant, application under the

deficit irrigation conditions was investigated over the plant height, stem diameter, fruit length and leaf color

parameters of pepper plant (Capsicum annuum L. cv. Tonton F1). The experiment was conducted by applying

three irrigation levels (I0; 100% full irrigation as control application, I1; 25% deficit irrigation, I2; 50%

deficit irrigation) and four biochar doses (B0; 0%- of biochar as control application, B1; 0.75% of biochar,

B2; 1.5% of biochar and B3: 3% of biochar as w/w) with three replicates in total of 36 pots as randomized

plot design. The findings showed that plant height, stem diameter and fruit length were significantly

decreased in deficit irrigation (p<0.01). While plant height and stem diameter were significantly increased in

biochar application, the values of fruit length were not varied statistically. The highest plant height (44.67

cm), stem diameter (7.34 mm) and fruit length (14.1 cm) were determined in full irrigation treatment with

3% of biochar (B3-I0). The difference between applications in terms of leaf color parameters (L, a*, b*, C*,

and Hº) were also significant (p<0.01). B0 treatment provided the highest L, a, b and C values considering

treatment means, while the hº value was found the highest in B3. As a conclusion, it can be indicated that

pepper plant development in the biochar-treated pots under deficit irrigation conditions can improved

considerable levels compared to the application without biochar.