Effect of substrates and growth bioactivators on Capsicum annuum L. seedlings under greenhouse conditions

Abstract

The effect of 11 treatments (substrates) based on lombrihumus, compost, kuntan and Kekkilä® with bioactivators: Lidavital® and Micosat®, on chili pepper (Capsicum annum L.) seedlings was evaluated under a completely randomized design (CRD) at the International University Antonio de Valdivieso de Rivas. In total height, five showed high averages (p≤0.05), and exceeded the control by more than 82.0 %, with Lombrihumus+Lidavital® standing out, as well as in basal diameter, which exceeded the control by 95.0 % (p≤0.05); in root length, Compost+Kuntan+Lidavital® and Lombrihumus+Lidavital® (p≤0.05) outperformed the Control by 27.4 and 25.7 % respectively; in number of leaves, seven emitted more leaves (p≤0.05), all of them outperformed the Control by more than 1.2 times. In biomass content, seven presented the highest values (p≤0.05) with Kekkilä®+Lidavital® standing out, which exceeded the Witness by 1.6 times. Compost+Lidavital was the one that presented a positive correlation between biomass content and growth variables. In survival, eight were higher than the average (92.6 %) (p≤0.05), being higher than the control by 25.0 %. In production cost, when bioactivators were included, there was no increase and their effect favored growth, being the Witness the one who registered a higher cost by more than 29.0 %.