Abstract
Seven experiments were conducted at the research farm of Horticulture Research Centre of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Joydebpur, Gazipur during 2009 to 2012 to develop a package of techniques for production and storage of sweet pepper seed. The results revealed that the spacing 60cm x 30cm along with 15 November transplanting produced the highest seed yield (966.90 kg/ha) under Joydebpur, Gazipur condition but the attributes such as weight of individual fruit (219.50 g), number of seeds/fruit (215.00), weight of seeds/fruit (1.65 g), seed yield (569.20 kg/ha), 1000-seed weight (8.00 g), seed germination percent (95.60%) and seed vigour index (27.52) were the highest at 50cm x 50 cm spacing × 15 November planting. The maximum seed yield (414.40 kg/ha), percentage of germination (95.97%) and seed vigour index (29.25%) were noted in the treatment of 200 kg N, 200 kg P and 125 kg K/ha. The experiment having the rate of 3.00 kg B along with 3.50 kg Zn gave the highest seed yield (430.20 kg/ha). The sweet pepper seed crop irrigated at 10 day's interval with the combination of black polyethylene mulch resulted in higher yield (353.60 kg/ha) of quality seeds. In respect of shade nets, 50% reduced light performed the best in respect of number of fruits (11.64/plant), number of seeds (131/fruit), weight of seeds (1.09g/fruit) and (12.63g/plant), seed yield (504.80 kg/ha), percentage of germination (88.11%) and seed vigour index (23.56). The effect of stage of maturity was significant for most of the parameters studied. Fruits harvested at full red stage when after-ripened for 12 days showed the highest germination (97.41%), seed vigour index (29.35) and 1000-seed weight (8.58 g) of sweet pepper. The highest germination percentage of seeds (93.95%) was obtained from aluminum foil after one month of storage and the highest seed vigour index (27.93) was also obtained from the same treatment. The maximum shoot length (6.21 cm) was obtained from polyethylene coated gunny bag after one month storage of seed, the highest root length (7.05 cm) from plastic pot after two months storage, shoot dry mass (4.47 mg) and root dry mass (3.52 mg) were found the highest in plastic pot + 3 month storage of sweet pepper. Although the seed yield of sweet pepper was the highest at 60 cm x 30 cm spacing × 15 November planting, most of the quality attributes were poor at this treatment. Under the experimental conditions, the treatment, 50 cm x 50 cm x 15 November planting was found to be conducive for higher yield and better quality of sweet pepper seeds.