Abstract

The effect of various K⁺ and Ca²⁺ nutrient solutions were evaluated to measure the growth rate, amount of reducing sugars and the production of Capsicum annuum Plants were grown directly in soil under shade house conditions in two separate experiments across two consecutive years. Nine nutrient solutions containing three levels of K+ (27, 35 and 43%) combined with three levels of Ca²⁺ (37, 45 and 53%) were used, along with the Steiner solution treatment as a control. Irrigation was calculated every week according to Kc, volumetric humidity and ETo, the experimental design was a block (furrows) with a 3(x)3 factorial arrangement. There was no interaction between growth rate, sugars and yield. Plants treated with the combination 27% of potassium with 53% of calcium presented a yield of 500 g/fruit greater than the control treatment (Steiner), and produced on average 2 more fruits per plant with a weight of 160 g/fruit (<0.05) higher than Steiner, the low potassium concentration (27%) induced a lower concentration of sugars with a value >3 mg/ml during the first crop cycle, it were analyzed during the flowering stage, and in the second agricultural cycle, during the fruiting stage it was < 4 mg/ml.

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