Hot pepper intensive chilli production systems are susceptible to soilborne diseases, such as Sclerotium rolfsii, especially during the summer months.
Recently, the SoilWealth a project by Hort Innovation has launched a report on a chili spacing trial. The report describes the impact of reducing plant density on relative disease pressure and yield during the trial.
Introduction
Intensive chilli production systems are susceptible to soilborne diseases, such as Sclerotium rolfsii, especially during the summer months. This summary reports the results from a 2017 field trial that aimed to examine if reducing plant density can reduce soilborne disease incidence and/or improve marketable yields in chilli crops.
Results
Some of the key research results were that throughout research, the results showed the ability of chilli plants to respond to the 75% spacing (compared to 6.1 plants/m of bed) with an increase in growth and yield. Next to that, There may be benefits, not related to soilborne disease management, to reducing seedling density, and hence cost. Furthermore, spacing can have a substantial effect on yield and gross margin.
Click here to read the complete report.
For more information:
Soil Wealth and Integrated Crop Protection (ICP)
www.soilwealth.com.au
For more information:
Hort Innovation
horticulture.com.au
