At the end of this lesson, you have learned to answer:
1. How chili pepper is a better crop than other
vegetable crops like tomato, watermelon, etc.?
2. What chili pepper types are cultivated?
3. How many days chili pepper seed takes to
germinate?
4. Describe the root system in chili pepper?
5. Which type of roots provide anchorage to the chili
pepper plant?
6. Describe the shoot system in chili pepper?
7. What is boot stage and how can you identify this
stage in chili pepper?
At the end of this lesson, you have learned to answer
8. In how many days after germination the flowering
initiation starts?
9. How can you identify flowering in chili pepper?
10. What is physiological maturity in chili pepper?
11. How can you identify physiological maturity in chili
pepper?
12. In how many days chili pepper plant matures?
13. What is the optimum stage to harvest chili pepper?
Chili pepper is a member of the
nightshade family and originally a wild
plant in southwestern Ecuador.
The evolution of chili pepper under the
pressures of cold and low temperatures
imparted the ability to tolerate cold, soil
toxicities, and freezing temperature
more effectively to cultivated chili
pepper plants than other vegetables.
Wild Chili pepper
Varieties of chili pepper are classified into 5 groups:
• Ethnic Hot peppers
• Chili pepper
•Ethnic Sweet peppers
•Ornamental and Bedding peppers
• Sweet Bell peppers.
Spice chili peppers are grown
for the vegetable - long, fleshy
skin used as human food or
spices and condiment.
Spice chili pepper
Sweet peppers have sweet juicy
flesh and are grown for making
pepper sauces. Sweet peppers
can also be used for salads or for
making pickles.
Sweet Pepper
Germination
At optimum temperature77 t0 86oF (25 to
300 C) and moisture, the chili pepper seed
germinates in 4 to 6 days.
When chili pepper seed is sown in moist
soil, the seed swells due to moisture
absorption.
The seed coat breaks a small shoot
(coleoptile) and a primary root (radicle)
emerge.
Stage 1 of
Chili pepper Germination
Initially the young seedlings take nutrients
from the endosperm of the seed.
Seedling Development
The shoot (coleoptile) emerge from the
ground and first leaf breaks through the tip.
First Leaf
Coleoptile
Mesocotyle
Seed
Primary
Root
The mesocotyle grows during this period
and a node is formed at the base of the
coleoptile just below ground level.
Secondary roots begin to grow from this
node, 3 to 7 days after the plant emerges
from the soil. Seedlings get the nutrients
through these roots.
Stage 2 of
Chili pepper Germination
Root system
The chili pepper root system consists of 3
types of roots:
•
Primary roots
•
Secondary or Adventitious roots
•
Tap roots
Primary roots
These roots develop from the
radicle and die subsequently.
Root system
Secondary or Adventitious roots
These roots develop from the first
node from the mesocotyle.
These rots occupy 5 to 15 cm area
in the soil around the base of the
stem.
Secondary roots of
Chili pepper
Adventitious roots are small,
uniform, and form a small portion of
the root system.
Shoot system
Leaves
Node
}Inter Node
Stem
Chili pepper shoot system consists
of stem, leaves, nodes, and
internodes during the vegetative
stage.
Leaves\nodes develop @ of one in
3 to 6 days.
The plant remains in vegetative
stage for 30 to 40 days during
which all leaves (12 to 18) are
formed.
Chili pepper shoot
Shoot system
About at 6 to 10 days of flowering, the
Plants become very green and healthy
and initiate flowers.
Chili pepper usually flowers 35 to 45
days.
Flowering stage
Shoot system
Two days after the emergence of the flowers
from the shoots, the flowers begin to open.
The flowering can be observed from the white
pollen from the anthers on the berry.
The maximum flowering takes place on 3rd or
4th day. It takes 6 days for the whole
inflorescence to complete flowering.
Flowering in chili
Seed Development
The chili pepper seed is called pepper
seed. The seed matures in 30 to 35 days
after fertilization.
Chili pepper seeds are round in shape but
flat on both sides.
Pepper seeds
The seeds vary in color - red, brown, white,
yellow, or cream and are with a dull or
pearly luster.
Seed Development
Physiological maturity:
Maximum total dry weight of the plant reaches at the
physiological maturity.
Uptake of nutrients also mostly cease at this stage.
So, if there are problems like bird damage etc. it is
advantageous to harvest the crop at this stage.
As the seed moisture at this stage will be around 25 to 35%,
proper drying of the seeds is important.
Seed Development
Physiological maturity can be determined by the dark
spot on the seed.
The seed on the left is physiologically mature; the one
on the right is not.
The cultivated pepper mature and
get ready for dry in 100 to 140 days
depending on the variety.
The right time to harvest chili pepper
is at the physiological stage of the
plants or when the berry moisture
content is below 45%.
With this, the Lesson on Growth of Chili pepper Plant,
and also the Module 1 - About Chili pepper concludes.
If you want to check your understanding on about chili
pepper, please click on “Exercise” button given
above.
The subsequent Modules in this course deal with the
important insect pests that attack chili pepper crop.
Click “Modules” button and select Module 2