Growth, Yield and Consumer Acceptance of Sweet Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) as Influenced by Open Field and Greenhouse Production Systems

Abstract

A study was conducted on sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) on growth, yield and consumer acceptance as influenced by open field and greenhouse production systems at the University of Ghana Forest and Horticultural Crops Research Centre, Okumaning – Kade in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The experiment was conducted in the minor season (dry season) from October 2014 to March 2015. A 2 × 9 factorial was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The experiment consisted of two production systems: greenhouse and open field and nine varieties of sweet pepper: California Wonder, Yolo Wonder, Kulkukan, F1 Nobile, Crusader, Guardian, Embella 733- EM and Caribbean Red, Pepper 1) with three replications. Data were recorded on plant height (cm), girth (mm), leaf number, number of fruits per plant, fruit weight per plant (kg), length of fruits (cm), diameter of fruits (cm), pericarp thickness (mm), number of locules per fruit and yield (t/ha). All the parameters measured differed significantly except pericarp thickness of fruits. In the greenhouse Kukulkan (21.34t) recorded the highest yield (t/ha) followed by California Wonder (20.99t) and Yolo Wonder (8.20t) had the least. In the open field it revealed that the yield of California Wonder (12.57t) gained the highest, followed by Crusader (10.57t) and pepper 1 (5.02) had the least weight. Fruits were ranked for its acceptability by consumers (rank = 1 - Very poor quality to 9 - Extreme excellent quality). California wonder (rank -8) was highly accepted by consumers compared to Caribbean Red (rank 4- moderate quality) in both greenhouse and open field conditions.