Effect of Different Mulches on Vegetative and Reproductive Components of Chilli (Capsicum annuum L) Hybrid Sierra

In this work a field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different mulches on vegetative and reproductive components of chilli hybrid sierra (Capsicum annuum L) from August 2014 to March 2015. Mulch treatments used in the study were black polythene, black on silver, black on white mulch, leaf litter, coir compost, paddy straw, sawdust and bare soil was the control. The results revealed that the mulch materials significantly affected vegetative and reproductive parameters over the control. Maximum plant height of 27.29 cm at vegetative stage, 49.70 cm at flowering stage and 66.0 cm at harvesting stage, number of primary branches (1.93) and number of leaves per plant (222.0), shoot length (75 cm) were observed when black on white mulch was used. While reproductive parameters viz., number of days to flowering, fruit set (72.45 per cent), number of fruits per plant (89.30), fruit length (10.60 cm), fruit girth (4.64 cm) and yield parameters like fresh fruit weight (10.90 g), fresh fruit yield per plant (973.37 g), fresh fruit yield per plot (19.46 kg/9m²) and estimated fresh fruit yield(21.63 t/ha) was also influenced by different mulches over the control.