XI ANNIVERSARY SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE BIOTECHNOL. & BIOTECHNOL. EQ.

23/2009/SE
120 YEARS OF ACADEMIC EDUCATION IN BIOLOGY SPECIAL EDITION/ON-LINE
45 YEARS FACULTY OF BIOLOGY
254
EFFECT OF ORGANIC-N FERTILIZER ON GROWTH AND SOME
PHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS IN PEPPER PLANTS (CAPSICUM ANNUM L.).
G. Karanatsidis, M. Berova
Agricultural University, Department of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 12 Mendeleev Str., Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Correspondence to: Berova M
E-mail: maberova@abv.bg
ABSTRACT
The research was carried out on pepper of Buketen 50 and Gorogled 6 cultivars, intended for production of red pepper
for grinding. Pepper plants were grown in a phytostatic chamber under controller conditions. The plants were cultivated as
soil crops. For this purpose soil from the Agroecological centre at the Agricultural University of Plovdiv (holder of a
certificate for ecological farm) was used. The experiment was carried out under the following scheme: 1. Control soil (no
organic fertilizer application); 2. Soil and organic-N fertilizer application. The indicated variants were formed during the
pricking of the plants in phase 2-4 true leaf. For the purpose of the experiment organic-N fertilizer Emosan (authorized for use
in organic farming) was attached. The fertilizer was applied at rate equivalent to 10.0 l da
-1
. The results indicated that,
applying organic-N fertilizer gave the vigorous plants expressed as plant height, leaves size as well as dry weight in both
cultivars. The increase of dry biomass was mainly for the account of the increased mass of the above the ground organs.There
was a positive effect of the fertilizer upon the functional activity of the photosynthetic apparatus /increased content of
photosynthetic pigments, improved leaf gas exchange.

Keywords: Capsicum annuum L., growth, leaf gas exchange,
organic-N fertilizer, photosynthetic pigment
Introduction
Organic farming is one of the fastest growing sectors of
agriculture worldwide. Its main objective is to create a
balance between the interconnected systems of soil
organisms, plants, animals and humans. Through the
effective use of resources on the farm and natural resources
Bulgarian legislation seeks to encourage the forces of the
natural self and the natural resistance that each system has.
The availability of suitable areas, legal basis, supervising
and certification authorities regarding organic production, are
good preconditions for the development of organic
agriculture in Bulgaria. However, the practical application of
this type of production should be supported by scientific data
sets. This is why in recent years in several countries,
including Bulgaria, to carry out thorough research on this
problem (2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 13, 14).
System to regulate the nutrition regime with organic
farming is based on balanced crop rotations, application of
compost, green manure and organic fertilizers. In crop
rotations with legumes, by submission of organic fertilizers
and other plant residues in soil maintained the nutrition
regime, which ensures obtaining high yields (1, 6, 8).
Emosan organic-N fertilizer is the one of the few organic
fertilizers that are used by the plant and directly participate in
the construction of the plant protein, and thus realize
significant energy savings for the plant itself. Therefore,
plants treated with Emosan grow more intense look in a bush
form, in green and fruit have greater weight on larger, more
delicious and more brightly colored (7, 9). Emosan affect the
microbial environment of the soil, wake up all the necessary
biological functions of the plant to ensure not only good
growth, but also a cleaner environment from pathogenic
influences. Manure is permitted for use in organic
production.
Materials and methods
The experimental work was carried out in a phytostatic
chamber under controller conditions: light intensity (PAR) -
300-350 mol m
-2
s
-1
, temperature - 24 2 / 18 2 ,
photoperiod - 14 h /light/ and 10 h /dark/ and relative air
humidity - 605%. The research was carried out on two
pepper cultivars: Gorogled 6 and Buketen 50 intended
for production of red pepper for grinding. For the purpose of

BIOTECHNOL. & BIOTECHNOL. EQ. 23/2009/SE XI ANNIVERSARY SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE
SPECIAL EDITION/ON-LINE 120 YEARS OF ACADEMIC EDUCATION IN BIOLOGY
45 YEARS FACULTY OF BIOLOGY
255
the experiment, organic-N fertilizer Emosan was used, with
the following specifications: nitrogen (N) all - 5%; nitrogen
(N) organic - 5%; - carbon (C) of organic biological origin
19%; - the elements Na, K, P, Fe, Ca, Mg - from 0.000045%
to 0.000522 %; - amino acids. The plants were cultivated as
soil crops. For this purpose soil from the Agroecological
centre at the Agricultural University of Plovdiv (holder of a
certificate for ecological farm) was used (Table 1).
In order to reduce evaporation, the soil surface was
covered with perlite. The experiment was carried out under
the following scheme: 1. Control soil (no organic fertilizer
application); 2. Soil and organic-N fertilizer application. The
fertilizer was applied at rate equivalent to 10.0 l da
-1
. The
indicated variants were formed during the pricking of the
plants in phase 2-4 true leaf.
30 days after the nutrition with Emosan fertilizer the
biometrical indices of the plants were measured. The content
of the plastid pigments and the leaf gas exchange were read.
Dry weight of the separate organs (root, stem, leaves, and
flower buds) was determined after 48 h oven drying at 80 .
The leaf area was measured with a digital area meter
NEO-2 (TU, Sofia, Bulgaria).
The photosynthetic pigments were determined
spectrophotometrically. The pigments were extracted with
85% water solution of acetone and centrifuged at 4500g for
10 min. The absorbance of the supernatant was measured
using a spectrophotometer Specol 11 (Carl Zeiss Jena,
Germany) and calculated according to Lichtenthaler and
Wellburn (12).
The leaf gas exchange parameters - net photosynthetic
rate (P
N
), transpiration rate () and stomatal conductance (g
s
)
were determined using a portable infrared gas analyzer LCA-
4 (ADC, England). The system was used with the broad leaf
chamber PLC4B.
The leaf water potential was measured with a pressure
chamber EL 540-305 (ELE-International Ltd, England) -
Turner (15).
All data were statistically analyzed. The significance of
differences was determined using Students t-test.
Results and Discussion
The results show (Table 2) that applied organic fertilizer
accelerates the vegetative growth of plants.

TABLE 1.
Chemical characteristics of soil
Soil layer (m) pH Humus(%) NH
4
N (ppm) NO
3
N (ppm) P
2
O
5
(ppm) K
2
0(ppm)
0.20 7.60 2.3 5.60 22.40 99.0 430
0.20-0.40 7.58 11.20 19.60 93.0 430

30 days after the nutrition the plants were higher by 7.4%
(cv. Gorogled 6) and 8.5% (cv. Buketen 50) compared with
the control. Not identified differences in the number of
leaves, however, while under the influence of organic
fertilizer significantly increased the size of photosynthesizing
surface (average 33.3% for both cultivars).
The dry biomass of the plants treated with Emosan was
higher than the control (by 27.3% in cv. Buketen 50 and
52.6% - cv. Gorogled 6). The increase of dry biomass was
mainly for the account of the increased mass of the above the
ground organs. This tendency was more pronounced in plants
from the cv. Gorogled 6. Were found significant differences
in growth and development of reproductive organs. The
number and mass of flower buds were significantly higher
after application of organic fertilizer.
Emosan has strongly pronounced positive effect on the
content of photosynthetic pigments (Table 3). 30 days after
the application of fertilizer the content of chlorophyll a was
significantly higher compared with the control variant for
both cultivars. With respect to chlorophyll b the same
tendency was observed. The differences in the chlorophyll
content between the plants treated with Emosan and the
control plants may be due to the increased photosynthesis of
the latter, on the one part, and to the stabilizing effect of the
fertilizer upon the chlorophyll-protein complex, on the other
part. Treatment with Emosan also increases the carotenoids
content. Not observed deviations from the standard in the
ratios between the photosynthetic pigments, suggesting that
the separate pigments were affected equally by application of
organic fertilizer.




XI ANNIVERSARY SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE BIOTECHNOL. & BIOTECHNOL. EQ. 23/2009/SE
120 YEARS OF ACADEMIC EDUCATION IN BIOLOGY SPECIAL EDITION/ON-LINE
45 YEARS FACULTY OF BIOLOGY
256
TABLE 2.
Effect of organic-N fertilizer Emosan on growth of young pepper plants, cv. Buketen 50 and cv. Gorogled 6
Control Nutrition with fertilizer Emosan Parameters
cv. Buketen 50 cv. Gorogled 6 cv. Buketen 50 cv. Gorogled 6
Plant height (cm) 32.050.93 40.801.23 34.780.82* 43.820.87*
Leaf number 11.000.38 10.000.14 100.15 100.22
Leaf area (cm
2
) 116.8311.00 84.036.12 158.134.20** 110.208.12**
Dry weight (g) 0.660.02 0.570.02 0.840.04** 0.870.06**
Leaf dry weight (g) 0.300.03 0.210.05 0.410.02** 0.310.02**
Stem dry weight (g) 0.110.01 0.100.01 0.130.01* 0.180.03**
Shoot dry weight (g) 0.430.04 0.320.02 0.560.04** 0.530.01**
Root dry weight (g) 0.230.01 0.250.01 0.280.02* 0.340.01**
Number of flower
buds
2.500.08 1.300.02 3.000.05* 3.020.04**
Flower bud dry
weight (g)
0.0200.001 0.0100.001 0.0260.001* 0.0400.001**
Measurements were made 30 days after fertilizer applied. Each data point represents the mean value of five plant samples
standard error. Values with an asterisk are statistically significant from control at 5% level, and values with two asterisks are
statistically significant from control at 1% level.
TABLE 3.
Photosynthetic pigment content (mg g
-1
fresh weight) in the fifth leaf of pepper plants cv. Buketen 50 and Gorogled 6 after
the application of organic-N fertilizer Emosan;
Control Nutrition with fertilizer Emosan
cv. Buketen 50 cv. Gorogled 6 cv. Buketen 50 cv. Gorogled 6
Chlorophyll 0.910.03 1.260.03 2.170.05** 2.350.07**
Chlorophyll b 0.600.01 0.560.04 1.310.02** 1.160.03**
Carotenoids 0.420.01 0.520.03 0.940.06** 1.080.02**
Chlorophyll a/b ratio 1.520.02 2.250.04 1.660.04 2.020.03
Chlorophyll (a+b) 1.510.01 1.820.02 3.480.06** 3.510.06**
Chlorophyll (a+b)/
carotenoids ratio
3.590.05 3.500.05 3.700.03 3.250.07
Measurements were made 30 days after fertilizer applied. Each data point represents the mean value of five plant samples
standard error. Values with two asterisks are statistically significant from control at 1% level.

Our research indicates that Emosan fertilizer improves the
leaf gas exchange (Table 4). In the plants treated with
fertilizer the photosynthesis rate was significantly higher
compared with the control plants in both cultivars. The
transpiration intensity follows the same tendency. The data
about the increased photosynthesis rate correspond to those
about the photosynthetic pigment content. This shows that
along with the stomatal conductance, the increased pigment
content is one of the reasons for the higher photosynthetic
rate in plants treated with organic fertilizer. No significant
changes were identified in water use efficiency in
photosynthesis and water potential of leaves.

Table 1. List of species established in the study area





BIOTECHNOL. & BIOTECHNOL. EQ. 23/2009/SE XI ANNIVERSARY SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE
SPECIAL EDITION/ON-LINE 120 YEARS OF ACADEMIC EDUCATION IN BIOLOGY
45 YEARS FACULTY OF BIOLOGY
257
TABLE 4.
Leaf gas exchange and water potential in the fifth leaf of pepper plants - cv. Buketen 50 and Gorogled 6 after the
application of organic-N fertilizer Emosan; P
N
Net photosynthetic rate (mol m
-2
s
-1
); Transpiration rate (mmol H
2
0 m
-2
s
-
1
); g
s
Stomatal conductance (mol m
-2
s
-1
); P
N
/E water use efficiency at leaf level (mol mmol
-1
); - leaf water potential
(MPa);
Control Nutrition with fertilizer Emosan
cv. Buketen 50 cv. Gorogled 6 cv. Buketen 50 cv. Gorogled 6
P
N
5.700.30 7.710.24 7.580.12** 9.260.10*
E 1.120.02 1.390.03 1.520.02** 1.720.06*
g
s
0.050.001 0.080.002 0.060.001 0.070.001
P
N
/E 5.090.10 5.550.13 4.990.16 5.380.09
-0.270.004 -0.320.001 -0.290.004 -0.290.002
Each data point represents the mean value of five plant samples standard error. Measurements were made 30 days after
fertilizer applied. Values with an asterisk are statistically significant from control at 5% level, and values with two asterisks are
statistically significant from control at 1% level.

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