Effects of Seasonal Variability on the Performance of Long Cayenne Pepper Collected from Southwestern Nigeria

Six weeks old long cayenne pepper seedlings were transplanted to the field on 6^th of June, 2008 for the early season and 11^th of September, 2008 for the late season on beds measuring 3.6m by 2.4m. Experimental design was randomized complete block design with three replications. The result showed that the mean maximum and minimum temperature of 35°C and 25°C respectively during late season enhanced the attainment of days to 50% flowering and 50% fruiting by 35days earlier in all the accessions than the early season with 34°C and 24°C. Also the rainfall for the period between 50% flowering and 50% fruiting was 464.9mm in the early season whereas the corresponding value for late season was 97.2mm, hence this could be said to have been responsible for over 50% reduction in the fruit weight per plant across all the 31 accessions during early season due to flower abortion, stem lodging and high fruits loses.