Production of jalapeno pepper in mini-tunnel in response to synthetic, organic and carbon fertilization

The use of organic fertilizers in integrated fertilization systems is an alternative to recover soil fertility and increase crop productivity. The objective was to determine the contribution of synthetic and organic fertilizers, as well as the CO2 produced during composting, on plant growth and yield of jalapeno peppers grown in mini-tunnels. A randomized block design with eight treatments and three replications was used. The variables evaluated were: CO2 concentration in the internal air of the mini-tunnel; plant height; stem diameter; leaf greenness; dry weight of roots, stems, leaves and total per plant; fruit yield, total and commercial sizes. Treatments with synthetic fertilizers + vermicompost + CO2 from composting (T1), vermicompost + CO2 from composting (T5), synthetic fertilizers + CO2 from composting (T3), and CO2 from composting (T7), increased the concentration of carbon dioxide within of the mini-tunnels in 142, 113.8, 78.9 and 66.6%, respectively, compared to the positive control (T4), in which only synthetic fertilizers (378.6 ppm) were used. T1, T2 (synthetic fertilizers + vermicompost) and T3 increased the dry weight of the plant by 51.2, 31.1 and 8.4%, and the total yield by 50, 24 and 12.1%, compared to the same variables obtained in T4: 104.4 g plant(-1) and 41.2 t ha(-1), respectively. Jalapeno pepper production was significantly improved with the addition of vermicompost and/or CO2 from composting to conventional synthetic fertilization.