Effect of Mulching and Planting Geometry on Seed Production of Bell Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in Mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh

The present experiment was carried out at Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh (India) during kharif season 2013 to study the Effect of mulching and planting geometry on seed production in bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh. The planting geometry consists of row layouts and plant layouts. The treatment combinations comprised of four different mulches viz., no mulch, black-plastic mulch, silver-black plastic mulch (upper side of mulch is silver while lower side is black and crop residue mulch, three row layouts with constant population of 37037 plants ha⁻¹ were recommended single row 60×45 cm² (single rows 60 cm apart and plants within rows are 45 cm apart, double row (75+45)×45 cm², 75 cm between two double rows, 45 cm within two double rows and plants within rows are 45 cm apart, and double row (90+30)×45 cm² (90 cm between two double rows, 30 cm within two double rows and plants within rows are 45 cm apart, and two plant layouts viz., rectangle/square, and triangle. The treatment combination of silver-black plastic mulch, double row (75+45)×45 cm² and triangle method of planting was found superior over all other treatments in terms of growth characters, fruit and seed yield characters.