Performance Evaluation of Black Pepper (Piper nigrum L.) Varieties for Yield and Quality under the Lower Pulney Hills

Black pepper (Piper nigrum, Piperaceae) is an important traditional crop cultivated in the lower Pulney hills of Tamil Nadu. An experiment was conducted at Horticultural Research Station, Thadiyankudisai, with the objective of identifying a suitable high-yielding genotype for the lower Pulney hills conditions. Twenty-four black pepper varieties, viz., IISR-Shakthi, IISR-Thevam, IISR-Girimunda, IISR-Malabar Excel, Coorg Excel, Vellanamban, Thekkan, Panchami, Sreekara, Subhakara, Pournami, Panniyur-1 to Panniyur-9, PLD-2, Vijay, Kottanadan, and Karimunda were collected for this trial and planted at 3m x 3m spacing. The field had been laid out as per RBD with three replications. Growth performance, flowering and yield parameters were recorded and the, and yield parameters were recorded and statistically analyzed. The results revealed that vine length ranged from 1.36 m to 3.48 m. The variety Kottanadan recorded a maximum leaf length of 17.2 cm with a leaf breadth of 6.2 cm. The number of laterals per meter column ranged between 16.2 and 27.3. The variety Karimunda recorded the maximum number of spikes per square meter column (79 Nos.). Maximum spike length and number of berries per spike were observed in Panniyur-1 (15.40 cm & 74.60). The varietiesKarimunda, and Pournami had been recorded with 2.21 kg, 2.13 kg, and 2.00 kg fresh berries per vine, respectively. The variety Panniyur-1 recorded a higher dry pepper yield of 0.78 kg per vine, followed by 0.68 kg in Karimunda and 0.62 kg in Pournami. Dry recovery percent of black pepper varieties ranged between 39.00% and 27.80%. The highest dry recovery percent was recorded by the variety Panniyur-8 with 39.00 percent.