Effects of Salinity on Vegetative Response, Yield, and Fruit Quality Attributes of Commercial Piquin Peppers (Capsicum annuum L. var. glabriusculum)

Accumulation of salts in the soil profile result from a number of natural and anthropogenic processes. In northern Mexico, commonly occurring salinity problems are primarily caused by low precipitation levels and deficient management of irrigation systems. Piquin pepper (Capsicum annuum L. var. glabriusculum) is a highly appreciated horticultural product in northern Mexico. Since piquin pepper plants have not been fully domesticated, they still present rusticity characteristics, which make them attractive for production in saline-affected soils. The objective of this project was to characterize the effects of the application of different NaCl treatments (0 to 400 mM) through the irrigation system on vegetative response, yield, and fruit quality of piquin pepper plants. Response variables included photosynthetic response, yield, biomass parameters, maturation, and fruit quality attributes (size and pungency levels). Our results indicate that the primary effect of increased NaCl in the irrigation water on photosynthesis started at higher concentrations than those reported for other peppers and crops. Increased NaCl concentration reduced vegetative growth and changed root:shoot relationships. While increased NaCl levels affected fruit yield, they did not have a significant effect on fruit quality parameters including fruit maturation, and pungency.