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Abstract
‘Keystone Resistant Giant’ pepper plants, grown at a population of 48,000/ha, were sampled, fractionated, dried, weighed and analyzed for macroelement content every 14 days between 28 and 112 days after transplanting. The highest specific accumulation rate for N, P, K, Ca and Mg occurred 28 to 42 days after transplanting, but the highest absolute nutrient uptake rate was during 56 to 70 days after transplanting, a period when fruit growth was rapid. N, P and K accumulated in leaves-plus-petioles, stems and fruit whereas Ca and Mg were abundant in leaves-plus-petioles but was quite low in fruit tissue. By 98 days after transplanting, the plants had absorbed the following amounts of nutrients in kg/ha: 118 N, 15 P, 123 K, 41 Ca, and 32 Mg. Total dry matter was 4758 kg/ha at the same time. Leaf efficiency as measured by mean net assimilation rate was high during fruit set and growth but declined after commercial harvest. A relatively low leaf area index and a correspondingly high mean net assimilation rate suggested that increased plant populations would result in increased efficiency. There were 114,500 marketable fruits/ha picked during 2 harvests which weighed 13.4 MT.