THE YIELD STRUCTURE AND TECHNOLOGICAL TRAITS OF FRUITS OF SEVERAL SWEET PEPPER CULTIVARS FROM A SINGLE HARVEST

Sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L. var. macrocarpum) is a valuable vegetable from the Solanaceae family. The increased interest in open field pepper cultivation results from higher demand for this vegetable of the processing industry. Preservation and freezing are the main directions of pepper processing. Due to a long growing period and high thermal requirements of this species, a based problem in open field pepper cultivation in Poland is to obtain the largest possible amount of fully red fruits. The present study, conducted during the period 2009–2010, evaluated quantity and quality yield of several sweet pepper cultivars that are currently most frequently grown in the Lublin region for the processing industry. Fruits were picked in a single harvest. The present study determined marketable yield and its structure, depending on the fruit colour stages, as well as basic technological traits of fruits such as fruit weight, pericarp thickness, share of placenta in fruit weight, and technological yield. ‘Socrates F1’, ‘King Arthur F1’, and ‘Red Knight F1’ were the most productive cultivars. The highest red fruit yield was obtained in the cultivars ‘King Arthur F1’ and ‘Red Knight F1’, and they also produced the largest fruits. Red fruits accounted for 50.8% of marketable yield, on average, for the cultivars compared. Among the domestic cultivars, ‘Caryca F1’ was distinguished by a thick pericarp and a high share of placenta in fruit weight. Technological yield of fruits of the evaluated cultivars was in the range of 83.5–91.7%.