Chillies and Sweet pepper
Nutritive value-
Contents
Green
Dry
Protein (g)
2.9
15.9
Fat (g)
0.6
6.2
Carbohydrates (g)
3
31.6
Calcium (mg)
30
160
Iron (mg)
1.2
1.3
Vitamin A (IU)
292
575
Vitamin C (mg)
111
50
Uses- Chilli is cultivated for vegetables, spices and pickles. Green fruits are good source of vitamin A and C.
Capsicum or sweet pepper or simla mirch or bell pepper bears bell shaped, non pungent, mild and thick fleshed fruits. Green fruits are used as vegetables because they are less pungent.
The pungency in chilli is due to crystalline volatile alkaloid capsaicin, which has good export potentiality. The red colours of chillies are due to presence of pigment capsanthin.
Varieties of chillies- Jwala, N.S. 1701, Local nepali
Varieties of capsicum- California, Wonder well
Climate and soil requirement- Chilli is very sensitive to frost. The optimum temperature for fruit set is 24oC. When night temperature goes below 10oC, the fruit set is restricted. Comparatively milder climatic conditions are preferred for sweet pepper cultivation as compared to hot pepper. Temperature above 23.5oC affects the development of fruit adversely. Fruit weight, length, girth, pericarp thickness and number of seeds per fruits were high at 25oC/18oC day and night temperature. Rainy season is the main season for chilli cultivation while it might be cultivate in summer and winter season also. Rainy crop is planted in the month Ashar to Shrawan, Winter crop in the month of Ashwin to Kartik and summer crop in the month of Magh to Falgun.
Chilli can be grown on all types of soils from light sandy to heavy clay. The optimum soil pH is 5.8-6.5. Chilli crop is very sensitive to waterlogging.
Thoroughly plough the land 3-4 times to obtain a fine tilth. The last ploughing should be followed by planking to level the field.
Nursery Raising- The sandy loam and loam soils rich in organic matter are suitable for the nursery. In soil with good tilth 10-12 beds of 15 cm raised nursery beds of 3m length and 1 m width are prepared. 15 kg FYM and 500g of N:P:K (15:15:15) complex fertilizer along with 7.5g carbofuran per bed is incorporated. The beds are drenched with captan or any systemic fungicide @ 2-3 g/liter of water. Seeds are sown thinly in rows 6 cm apart and 2.5 mm deep. The beds are covered thinly with straw or grass layer and irrigate with rose-cane. On germination (10-12 days) the beds are again drenched. After the appearance of first true life seedlings are thinned out. On the 20th day Monocrotophos or any systemic insecticide (1.5-2 ml) and on 25th day mancozeb are sprayed. During the last week of nursery, the seedlings may be hardened by slightly withholding water for better establishment of seedlings. The seedlings with 5-6 true leaves are transplanted after 30 days. About 1.0-1.5 kg seed is sufficient for one hectare area.
Transplanting- When seedlings attain the height of 8-12cm having 5-6 true leaves, these are ready to transplanting in the already prepared field. Normally transplanting is done in the evening hours. The field should be irrigating immediately after transplanting and then frequent irrigations are made until the establishment of seedlings. Spacing depends upon the type of variety and season. The optimum spacing is 60 X 45cm. The spacing should be increased and decreased as per the fertility status of the soil, favourability of the environment.
Manure and Fertilizer- The entire quantity of FYM or compost (200-250q/ha) is incorporated at the time of first ploughings. 25 kg Carbofuran per hectare is also applied. Generally 80-100 kg N, 40-50 kg P and 40-50 kg K are required for one hectare area. Half dose of N and full dose of P and K is applied as basal and the remaining half dose of N is applied as top dressing at 30 days after transplanting.
Irrigation- Chilli requires frequent irrigation. However, excess irrigation may lead to more vegetative growth and less fruiting while water deficiency leads to reduction in fruit setting. The first irrigation is applied soon after transplanting. The subsequent irrigations are made at 8-10 days interval or as per requirement of the crop.
Inter-culture operation and weed control- For raising a successful crop, gap filling, hoeing and mulching is required. Generally during summer and rainy season 6-8 DAT there is mortality of seedlings. In order to maintain adequate plant population, gap filling is essential. Gap filling is done in the evening and soon after the field is irrigated.
Pre-transplant surface application of Alachlor (1-1.5 kg) or Oxadiazon (1.0 kg) and post-transplant spraying of Metribuzine (0.5 kg) controls the weed very effectively.
Harvesting- Chilli is mainly grown for ripe fruits whereas bell pepper is grown for green fruits. Green fruits are harvested when they are still green in colour at 60 DAT and dry fruits 90 DAT. Generally 5-6 pickings are made for green chillies while 2-3 picking for red ripe fruits.
Yield- Green 50-60q/ha (rainfed), 200-300 q/ha (irrigated) and Dry chillies 5-6 q/ha (rainfed), 20-30 q/ha (irrigated).
Insect-pests
Aphids (Aphis gossypii, Myzus persicae)- The suck the cell sap from leaves and tender points.
Control-
Spray Dimethoate (0.03%) at 10 days interval starting from flowering stage.
Fruit borer (Helicoverpa ormigera)- The larvae feed on flowers, flower buds and young tender fruits. They feed on the newly formed fruits and make them unfit for consumption causing rotting.
Control-
Spray endosulphan (0.05%) at 10 days interval starting from flowering stage.
Grow tall varieties of marigold as intercrop in a row after every 14 rows of tomato to attract the insects.
Grow leaf affected varieties like Pusa red plum.
White fly (Bemisia tabaci)- The minute insects suck the sap of tender parts. Severe damage results in yellowing and curling of leaves. It also acts as a vector to transmit leaf curl virus.
Control-
Uproot alternate host.
Spray Dimethoate (0.05%).
Diseases-
Fungal diseases-
Damping off (Pythium sp., Rhizoctonia sp., Fusarium sp., Phuotophthora parasitica)- It cause damage both at pre and post emergence death of seedling. It is characterized by rapid shirinking and rotting at colar region resulting in toppling down of infected seedlings.
Control-
Provide proper drainage facility to avoid stagnant of water.
Deep ploughings during summer.
Thin sowing of seeds to avoid over crowding.
Seed treatment wit Bavistin @ 2g/kg of seed.
Early Blight (c.o.- Alternaria solani)- The disease is characterized by the appearance of dead spots with concentric rings on the leaves. The fungus is soil borne and warm moist weather is favourable for the development and spread of disease.
Control-
Follow crop rotation
Adopt phytosanitary measures
Spray dithane M-45(Mancozeb), Dimethomorph etc. @ 0.25% at 10 days interval.
Late blight (c.o.- Phytophthora infestans)-
Circular or irregular water soaked spots appear on the leaves which soon turn to brownish black lesions. The lesions enlarge and coalesce killing the entire leaves. Decayed leaves emit offensive odour. Cool moist environment is favourable.
Control-
Use healthy, disese free and certified seeds for sowing.
Make four prophylactic sprays of Blitox-50 or dithane M-45 at 7 days interval.
Spray the crop with dithane M-45 @ 0.25% at 15 days interval starting from the appearance of disease.
Ripe fruit rot, dieback and anthracnose (Colletotrichum capsici)- Black water soaked spots appear on the leaves which gradually turn brown to black in colour. Dieback is usually observed after the rains have stopped and prolonged deposition of dew of the plants.
Control-
Use disease free seeds.
Treat the seed with Bavistin 2g/kg of seed.
Spray the crop with dithane M-45 @ 0.25% at 15 days interval starting from the appearance of disease.
Bacterial diseases
Bacterial leaf spot (Xanthomonas vesicatoria)- The important characteristics of the disease is the development of small dark and greasy spots on the leaves, petioles and stems and water soaked spots on the green fruits. Spot remain light brown and slightly sunken towards the centre.
Control-
Use disease free seeds
Seed treatment with hot water at 50oC for 25 minutes.
Remove the affected plants.
Spray Streptocyclin 200 ppm + copper oxychloride (0.03%) thrice during Ashwin-Kartik.
Leaf curl- The characteristic symptoms are curling of leaves and crowding together. Stunted growth of plants, infected leaves turn pale. Infected plants produce more stunted lateral branches resulting in a bushy growth. Incidence is favoured high temperature and low humidity. This disease is transmitted by white fly.
Control-
Rouge out infected plants.
Uproot the weeds.
Raise nursery in disease free areas.
Treat the nursery beds before sowing with furadan @ 1 kg/ha.
Spray Dimathoate (0.05%) at 10 days interval.
Spray border crops like maize about 2 months before transplanting.
Mosaic- It is characterized by TMV. Mottling of leaves and formation of dark green patches on the leaves are the characteristic symptom. The growth of infected plants is stunted and bears very few fruits. The virus is sap transmitted and also seed borne.
Control-
Follow clean cultivation.
Select virus free seeds.
Follow crop rotation excluding potato, brinjal, chilli etc.
Give hot water treatment at 50o C at 30 minutes to the seed.
Storage and marketing-
Pre and post-harvest handling- Green chilli and capsicum should be harvested at full maturity stage. Green chilli and capsicum are usually tight filled in gunny bags and send to the local wholesale markets and also transported to long distance markets.
When chilli is used as dry red chilli, harvesting the crop when the pods are well ripened and partially withered in the plant itself gives superior produce with better pungency and colour retention properties. Ideal thing to do would be to keep the harvested pods in heaps either indoors or in shade ways from direct sunlight for 2-3 days so as develop uniform red colour.
To get uniform and quick drying pods have to be spread out in the drying yard in layer of 8-10 cm. Frequent string should be practiced to avoid mold growth and discolouration. Unless the pods are dried properly, they may lose their colour, glossiness and pungency. To avoid microbial activity and aflatoxins, the moisture in the dried pods should be less than 10%. Sun drying takes about 5-15 days depending the day temperature and humidity. Improved drying system includes drying using air blow drier at 44-46oC and to dry very solar drier. However, it is extremely difficult to dry very large quantities of chillies through these methods.
Marketing- Though chilli is grown mostly in rainy season, harvesting of red ripe chilli commence in November- December. The present system of marketing chilli is through regulated market committees.
Storage- Green chillies and capsicum should be cooled immediately after harvesting, stored and transported at temperature ranging between 7oC and 10oC with relative humidity for 90-95%. If properly cooled and stored, the shelf life can be extended by 14-21 days.
In case of dry chillies, pods should be dried properly after removing plant parts and foreign matter. Later, they can be packed in clean, dry gunny bags and stored in cool dry places ensuring protection from dampness. Dunnage has to be providing to stack the packed bags to prevent moisture ingress from the floor. Care should be taken to stack the bags 50-60 cm away from the wall. Stored product should preferable be exposed to sun periodically. Dry chilli could be stored better in kraft pack at 27oC and 65% relative humidity where as for powder, polythene bag is effective then clear glass containers.
It is of great importance that the colour and pungency in case of chillies and colour in the case of paprika are maximally preserved during storage. In trade there is preference for mechanically dried capsicums with around 10% moisture as those that are over dried suffer from loss of colour darkening and those with higher moisture level are susceptible to infection and bleaching of colours during storage.
Value added products- The demand of value added chilli powder, colour oleoresin and pungent oleoresin has been steadily increasing. In food beverage industries, chillies has acquired a great importance in the form of oleoresin which permits better distribution of colour and flavour in food as compared to chilli powder. The food industry prefers to use highly coloured and less pungent chillies for preparation of oleoresin. Oleoresin offers many advantages over straight spices, viz. cleanliness and uniform flavour. Oleoresin is used in preparation of processed products and also in a number of pharmaceutical formulations
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