Field Performance of Eggplant and Pepper Transplants Raised in Different Potting Media

A FIELD experiment was conducted to study the response of vegetative growth and fruit yield of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) cv Classic Roomy and chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cv Omega F1 hybrid transplants produced using different growing media. The growing media were the spent mushroom compost and peat moss, in addition to their 1,1 (v/v mixture. The study was conducted in the Vegetable Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut during 2016 and 2017. The 40-day-old eggplant and chili pepper transplants were transferred to the open field and arranged as randomized complete-block design. Data recorded on some main growth and yield traits showed no influence of growing media on field productivity of pepper plants. Likewise was the eggplant, except a marginal total yield difference that was in favor of transplants grown in the spent mushroom compost growing media. The increment in fruit weight for eggplant was noticed in one year only for those plants derived from transplants grown in the spent mushroom compost growing medium. These results suggests the feasibility of spent mushroom compost substitution to imported peat moss as growing media for production of eggplant and pepper seedlings and may also be used for other horticultural species.