2020, Vol. 3, Issue 1, Part A

author(s)
Nimona Fufa Hunde

abstract
Hot pepper is an important spice and vegetable crop in Ethiopia. Its production is constrained by a number of problems among which declining soil fertility is the primary. The amount of fertilizer to be applied depends on soil fertility, fertilizer recovery rate, and organic matter, soil mineralization, and soil leaching. The solanaceous groups of vegetables including hot pepper generally take up large amounts of nutrients. The amount of nutrients it take up depends on the quantity of fruit and dry matter produce, which in turn is influenced by a number of genetic and environmental variables. In the absence of any other production constraints, nutrient uptake and yield are very closely related. Pepper, like other crop produces well when it is adequately supplied with the essential nutrients through fertilization. Farmers produce hot pepper using fertilizer which is essentially required for growth and productivity but, unbalanced application of plant nutrients magnifies the reduction of other important nutrient elements in soils. Previous fertilizer research work in Ethiopia has focused with macro nutrients under different soil types and various climatic conditions, while very limited work has been reported with other essential macro and micro nutrients. Recently acquired soil inventory data from EthioSIS (Ethiopian Soil Information System) revealed that in addition to N and P, nutrients such as S, B, Zn and Fe are deficient in Ethiopian soils. The yield of hot pepper varies year to year; this indicates that pepper crop need intensive care and management for high return per unit area and also fertilizer use efficiency depends to large extent on soil fertility conditions. Improving agronomic efficiency provides yield increases which can be achieved for a given quantity of fertilizer applied.