YIELD AND PEPPER QUALITY AS AFFECTED BY LIGHT INTENSITY USING COLOUR SHADE NETS

The yield and quality of pepper were affected by environmental factors and the agronomic techniques used. The photoselective netting concept was tested in greenhouse pepper (Capsicum annuum ‘Chameleon’) production under high solar radiation 942 W•m^-2 (value of photosynthetic photon flux density -PPFD is about 1600 μmol•m-2•s^-1) in the south part of Serbia (Aleksinac). Four different coloured shade-nets (pearl, red, blue and black) with different relative shading (40% and 50% PAR) were mounted over the plastic-house and applied at the start of warm weather in the middle of June. Shading of pepper plants affected both fruit yield and quality. Total and marketable yield increased with 40% shading level and then decreased (with 50% shade). Shading of pepper (40%) may be an option to reduce heat stress conditions and extend the spring-summer season toward September. Although light is not essential for the synthesis of vitamin C in plants, the amount and intensity of light during the growing season influence the amount of vitamin C formed. Significantly higher vitamin C content was observed in greenhouse pepper integrated with red shade netting technologies (188.4 mg•100g^−1) than in greenhouse pepper without colour nets (151.4 mg•100g^−1). The results of the present study should provide useful preliminary data for detecting differences among environment variation in quality and light-dispersive colour shade nets, as a new multi-benefit tool for crop protection.