Effect of organic fertilizers on apparent nitrogen utilization and yield of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) as influenced by fertilizer timing

Abstract A glasshouse experiment was carried out at the University of Natural resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria during the months of April to September in both 2012 and 2013 to investigate the effect of organic fertilizers on apparent nitrogen utilization and yield of sweet pepper as influenced by fertilizer timing. In two subsequent years, sweet peppers were grown in glasshouse and fertilized with 20 g N/m2 as Maltaflor®-spezial, coarse meal of fababean and horn at different times within a 30 cm wide fertilizer-band. The experiment was laid out in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications. Data was recorded on the various parameters and subjected to statistical analysis. Yields of tomatoes, plant N uptake and apparent N utilization obtained with Maltaflor®-spezial or fababean were comparable to those of horn in both years. The apparent N utilization did not exceed 19-33 % in the first year (2012) due to a high N uptake in the control, but increased in the following year (2013) to 26-57 %, because of the poorer growth in the unfertilized control. There were marked differences in the amount of NO3 --N remaining in soil during and after cultivation, so that the N supply by Maltaflor®-spezial was higher compared to fababean and horn. Split application of a readily available organic fertilizer could be promising and an additional N mineralization could be expected by a regular hoeing of formerly fertilized plots.