Effect of Different Mulches on Growth and Physiological Characters of Chilli (Capsicum annuum L) Hybrid Sierra

The field experiment was conducted in the Department of Horticulture farm, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture and Research Institute, Karaikal during August 2014 to March 2015 to study the effect of mulching on growth and physiological parameters of chilli hybrid Sierra. The experiment included eight treatments viz., black polythene, black on silver, black on white mulch, leaf litter, coir compost, paddy straw, sawdust and control (bare soil). The results revealed that the mulch materials significantly affected growth and physiological 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), number of days to flowering, fruit set (72.45 per cent), shoot length (75 cm), root length (31.5 cm), shoot root ratio (0.420) and physiological parameters viz., chlorophyll-a (1.03 mg g⁻¹), chlorophyll-b (0.69 mg g⁻¹) and total chlorophyll (1.72 mg g⁻¹) were observed when Black on white mulch was used.