Development of the crop coefficient for capsicum (Capsicum annum L.) under protected structures

The study was undertaken to determine the crop water requirement and crop coefficient for capsicum (Capsicum annum L.) at plasticulture farm of CTAE, Udaipur, Rajasthan under four small protected structures; (i) shednet house (ii) insectnet house (iii) poly house with ventilation through shed net and (iv) polyhouse with ventilation through insect net. The reference evapotranspiration under each structure was determined by Penman Monteith method based on microclimatic observations under all four protected structures. Crop evapotranspiration was determined by soil moisture balance method. Reference evapotranspiration and crop coefficient observed minimum under structure covered with shadenet for all the growth stages. Reference evapotranspiration for shadenet house was 21.5 % less than the reference evapotranspiration outside the structure. It was found that shadenet house minimized crop evapotranspiration by 33.4% as compared to outside crop evapotranspiration. However, the higher fruit yield per plant (1720 g plant-1) was recorded under polyhouse with ventilation through insectnet, which was significantly superior over the all growing structures while the lowest yield (1285 g plant-1) was recorded under shadenet house.