Abstract

Introduction. Water and nutrient management affects the balance between vegetative and reproductive growth of fruit crops and consequently yield potential. Knowing the morphophysiological and productive patterns of a crop provides indicators of an adequate source/sink balance to obtain optimal yields. Objective. To evaluate the effect of different irrigation and nutrition management strategies on the morphophysiological and productive behavior of the hybrid sweet pepper ''Dulcitico'' under hydroponic conditions in greenhouse. Materials and methods. The research was carried out at the Fabio Baudrit Moreno Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Costa Rica, with an unrestricted random bifactorial design (3 X 2), with 6 treatments with 3 repetitions, that combined 3 levels of nutrition: low (B_C), medium (M_C) and high (A_C) concentration of nutrients and 2 irrigation strategies, with E₁: lower volume and higher frequency and E₂: higher volume and lower frequency. Leaf area (AF), number of leaves (NH), length (LT) and diameter of the stem (DT), dry weight of stems (PsT), leaves (PsH) and flower-green fruit (PsF), radiation photosynthetically active intercepted (PARi), number of flower buds (BF), number of fruit set (FC) and total fruit yield (RT) and commercial (RC) according to quality of first (I), second (II), third (III) and waste (R), were evaluated. Results. There was only an effect of the different levels of nutrition, without interaction between factors. The B_C treatment plants showed the lowest growth (BF, FC y RT) and consequently less production (5.4 kg.m^-2). The A_C treatment plants had a higher growth than M_C, and consequently more BF, FC, and RT. However, the M_C treatment obtained the highest RC (9.2 kg.m^-2) due to a higher production of fruits of I and II quality and lower production of third and waste. Conclusion. M_C treatment showed the best balance between vegetative and productive growth, which was reflected in a higher production of commercial fruits of better quality and less waste.

Keywords: Plant morphophysiology; sweet pepper yield; soilless crop; fertigation management