Comparison of Six Green Chile (Capsicum annuum L) Cultivars on Harvest Efficiency with Etgar® Picker

Green chile (Capsicum annuum) is one of New Mexico’s leading horticultural commodities. The crop is harvested when fruit are fully sized, but in the physiologically immature green stage, for fresh and processed markets. Cultivated acreage of green chile in New Mexico is threatened due to the high cost and unavailability of labor for hand harvest. Mechanization is necessary to sustain the industry. Successful mechanization depends on harvester design coupled with plant growth habit that optimizes harvest efficiency. In a trial conducted at New Mexico State University’s Agricultural Science Center in Los Lunas, New Mexico, six cultivars provided by Curry Chile and Seed Co., Pearce, AZ (AZ-1904, Machete, PHB-205, E9, PDJ.7, and RK3-35) were evaluated for plant habit and harvest efficiency with an Etgar^® double, open helix harvester. Cultivars were direct seeded on 17 April 2015 and managed according to standard production practices. Plant attributes including plant width (cm), plant height, height to first bifurcation (cm), length between first bifurcation and first node (cm), and stem diameter (mm) were measured before harvest, and mechanically harvested yield components were assessed 01 September 2015. ‘PDJ.7’ had the tallest plants, but not statistically different from ‘AZ-1904’, while ‘E9’ had significantly (P=0.05) shorter plants. ‘E9’, ‘RK3-35’, ‘Machete’, ‘PHB-205’, and ‘PDJ.7’ all had more basal branches per plant, compared to ‘AZ-1904’ with significantly fewer basal branches. No significant differences were measured in broken fruit or sticks harvested. ‘PDJ.7’, ‘AZ-1904’, and ‘RK3-35’ had the greatest height to first bifurcation, while ‘E9’ was significantly less. ‘PDJ.7’ and ‘AZ-1094’ had the highest green yield, while ‘Machete’ was significantly lower in fruit yield when harvested with the Etgar^® picker. Mechanical harvest performance correlated with high bifurcation and few basal branches; therefore, future breeding efforts will select for these traits.