4. Conclusion
This study established that under full supply of irrigation water (I100), the paired-row planting
method outperforms the normal planting method in terms of green pepper yield, number of fruits per
plant and number of primary and secondary branches per plant. However, no significant difference
was observed between the two planting methods in terms of plant height. In the range of the two
deficit irrigation levels (I50 and I75), however, the normal planting method outperformed the
paired-row planting in terms of yield and yield components of green pepper. Moreover, highly
significant correlations were observed between irrigation levels and yield and yield components of
green pepper.
It was found that the application of deficit irrigations (I75 and I50) would bring about significant
decreases in green pepper yield over the control (I100) under both normal and paired-row planting
methods. The highest yield reduction was observed in I50 irrigation plot under the paired-row
planting method. Furthermore, yield response factors of 0.96 and 1.57 were estimated for green
pepper under the normal and paired-row planting methods, respectively, indicating that severe yield
loses are experienced under the paired- row planting method.
Overall, the results suggest that full supply of irrigation water through drip system could be
used for the production of green pepper under the paired-row planting in areas with no water
shortage. On the other hand, in areas where water shortage prevails depth of irrigation can be
lowered up to 75% of its full supply for the production of green pepper under the normal planting
method with
25% water saving and 22.8% yield reduction. This study also established that the benefit of deficit
irrigation imposed on green pepper under the paired-row planting is unlikely.