YELLOW AND RED SWEET PEPPER QUALITY UNDER PHOTOSELECTIVE SCREENS AND FIELD CROP CONDITIONS

Photoselective screens increase the diffused radiation, attenuating the extreme climatic conditions and allowing for greater efficiency in the production of vegetables in protected cultivation. However, there is little information about the effect of these screens on physical chemistry and nutritional quality of colored sweet peppers. This research evaluated the effect of blue and red photoselective screens on the quality of two cultivars of the hybrids sweet peppers in Brazilian midwest climatic conditions. The ‘Eppo’ (yellow) and ‘Margarita’ (red) hybrids, from Syngenta Seeds, were cultivated in 40% shading screenhouses. Field plots were used as control. 15 fruits per plant were evaluated from each hybrid harvested when they had commercial characteristics, by random selection of plants. The ratio between the total plant mass and length in natura fruits was evaluated. In order to evaluate the effect of the treatments (screens and field condition) under the fruits quality in terms of nutritional parameters were measured: pH, total soluble solids (°Brix), titratable acidity, centesimal approximated composition and vitamin C by the classical methods of analysis. The mean values of the weight/length ratio varied from 15.20 (EPPO field conditions) to 19.81 (EPPO red screen). The cultivation of pepper in red screens promoted fruits with the highest weight per centimeter. The soluble solids content ranged from 6.37 (‘Margarita’ blue screen) to 8.45 (‘Eppo’ field conditions). The yellow sweet pepper had a greater concentration of soluble solids in comparison to red. There was no difference in moisture content and vitamin C between the hybrids and the crop conditions. The photoselective screens have promoted differences in some physic-chemical characteristics of fruits, but not in the nutritional quality.