Impact analysis of capsicum production under protected and open field conditions

Farmer participatory field trials were conducted for assessing the impact of capsicum (Capsicum annum L.) production under protected and open field conditions. The experimentation was carried out during the year 2020 and 2021 at three locations viz, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Almora, village Chan and village Billekh of district Almora in Uttarakhand. The investigation was based on comparative analysis between open field and polyhouse conditions by using two different varieties namely hybrid-Indra and variety-California Wonder. The California Wonder, under open field conditions, served as control. Among all the four treatments, T1 (Polyhouse+Indra) performed very well in both the years i.e., 2020 and 2021 and significantly higher in all the attributes like number of pickings (30 numbers, 28 numbers), average yield per picking (60 Kg/120 m² and 64 Kg/120 m²) and total yield (1800 Kg/120 m² and 1792 Kg/120 m²)in 2020 and 2021.However, all above characters were significantly lower in T4 (farmers field variety, California Wonder) under open field condition during 2020 and 2021. The economic analysis revealed that the gross income (Rs. 90,000 and Rs. 89,600) and net income (Rs. 60,000 and Rs. 56,800) were the maximum in T1 realized during 2020 and 2021, respectively. The B: C ratio ranged between (2.30 to 3.00 and 2.17 to 2.73)under polyhouse conditions and (3.73 to 3.80 and 3.46 to 4.28) in open field conditions in both years. The integrated crop management technology implemented under polyhouse and open field conditions in hybrid Indra proved significantly superior not only in terms of yield but also showed tremendous impact in enhancing income of capsicum growers in Almora regions of Uttarakhand.