EVALUATION OF ELECTROCULTURE AS A SUSTAINABLE METHOD TO ENHANCE GROWTH AND YIELD OF CHILIES (CAPSICUM ANNUUM L.)

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted during kharif 2024 at the department of Horticulture, PMAS- Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan to study the effect of electroculture on seed germination and growth of chilies. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design RCBD with three replications. Treatments include: T₁ = Control, T₂ = Copper (Two, 2ft wire pot^-1), T₃ = Silver (Two, 2ft wire pot^-1), T₄ = Iron (Two, 2ft wire pot^-1 ). The chili treated with maximum result in Silver (Two, 2ft wire pot^-1) resulted in 75.00% seed germination, 8.22 days to seed germination, 26.58 number of leaves plant^-1, 25.32 cm plant height, 6.55 number of branches, 71.22 days to flower initiation, 8.75 number of flowers and 0.78 g fresh weight of root biomass. Copper (Two, 2ft wire pot^-1) resulted in 67.50% seed germination, 7.42 days to seed germination, 29.16 number of leaves plant^-1, 30.83 cm plant height, 8.64 number of branches, 71.00 days to flower initiation, 10.75 number of flowers and 1.18 g fresh weight of root biomass. The chili with Iron (Two, 2ft wire pot^-1) resulted 70.00% seed germination, 7.25 days to seed germination, 26.24 number of leaves plant^-1, 26.32 cm plant height, 6.23 number of branches, 70.31 days to flower initiation, 7.25 number of flowers and 1.22 g fresh weight of root biomass. However, the control resulted in minimum 60.00% seed germination, 6.22 days to seed germination, 22.99 number of leaves plant^-1, 22.49 cm plant height, 4.47 number of branches, 60.75 days to flower initiation, 6.50 number of flowers and 0.70 g fresh weight of root biomass.