COMPARING THE YIELD OF THREE PEPPER CULTIVARS IN TWO GROWING SYSTEMS, ORGANIC AND CONVENTIONAL, IN EXTREMADURA (SPAIN)

Three cultivars of pepper have been tested in open field during 2009 at “La Orden”, an experimental farm in the Guadiana Valley (Badajoz), using two different growing systems: organic and conventional. The cultivars were ‘BGV-000604’, ‘Corera’, both “morrón” type, and ‘BGV-005137’, “piquillo” type. ‘BGV-000604’ and ‘BGV-005137’ are Spanish landraces which were selected because of their good yield and quality in previous trials. ‘Corera’ is a widely grown commercial hybrid cultivar. The two growing systems differ one from the other in the kind of manure applied (organic vs. mineral), the control of pests and diseases (according to organic vs. conventional rules) and the weeding control (manual vs. chemical).
There were no significant differences between the tested growing systems for the number of fruits per plant, and only the cultivar ‘BGV-000604’ showed significant differences for commercial yield between these two growing systems. Furthermore, for these same characters there were no significant differences between the landrace and the commercial “morrón” type cultivars. These results showed that the organic growing let to obtain the same yield as the conventional one, although in the organic system three manual weeding and a higher number of phytosanitary treatments were necessary.