Effect of Water Stress on Crop Yield and Water Productivity of Drip-irrigated Pepper (capsicum Spp.) in Southwest Nigeria

This research presents the effects of water stress on crop yield and water productivity of two local varieties of pepper (Capsicum spp.) under various drip irrigation regimes in Southwest Nigeria. Study Design: The study was conducted during the 2018 and 2019 cropping seasons at the Teaching and Research Farm of Agricultural and Bio-Environmental Engineering of Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Nigeria. The experiment was a 2 x 4 factorial experiments arranged in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with two varieties of pepper (Capsicum chinense and Capsicum frutescens) and four drip irrigation regimes: 100%, 75%, 50% and 25% of actual crop evapotranspiration (ET100, 75, 50, 25) and replicated four times. The experiment was repeated in the second year late season. Water was applied from 3 weeks after transplanting (WAT) after which growth parameters, crop water productivity and crop yield were monitored and subjected to statistical analyses. The water productivity, crop yield and other crop growth parameters such as plant height, number of leaves, fruit length and weight were higher during the two seasons for the two pepper varieties under ET100 and ET75 irrigation regimes compared with ET50 and ET25 respectively. A significant difference (p<0.05) was observed in the growth parameters in all the treatments. However, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the water productivity components for ET100 and ET75 irrigation regimes. The best water productivity was observed for the ET75 drip irrigation regime. Therefore, the ET75 regime was recommended for the two pepper varieties to ensure sustainable cultivation and production of the two varieties in the study area.