Plasticulture Banana Pepper Response to Clomazone Applied Pretransplanting (PRE)

Abstract

Few published studies exist documenting banana pepper tolerance to clomazone. Therefore, field trials were conducted in 2022 at two Indiana locations [Meigs Horticulture Research Farm and the Pinney Purdue Agricultural Center (PPAC)] to evaluate crop safety in plasticulture-grown banana pepper. The experimental design was a split-plot in which the main plot factor was the clomazone rate (0, 840 and 1,680 g ai ha-1), and the subplot factor was cultivar (‘Pageant’ and ‘Sweet Sunset’). Clomazone was applied over-the-top of black polyethylene mulch-covered raised beds and their respective bare ground row middles one day prior to transplanting 12 pepper plants per subplot. Data collected included crop injury on a scale from 0% (no injury) to 100% (crop death) at 2, 4, and 6 wk after treatment (WAT), and plant stand. Two harvests were performed in which mature fruits were counted and weighed. Injury presented as interveinal bleaching only at PPAC 2 and 4 WAT. At this location 1,680 g ha-1 clomazone resulted in greater injury to ‘Sweet Sunset’ at 2 and 4 WAT (53 and 15%, respectively) than to ‘Pageant’ (19 and 3%, respectively), however, plant stand and yield were not affected by either clomazone rate. These results suggest that the clomazone rate range currently used for bell pepper (280 to 1,120 g ai ha-1) can be applied prior to transplanting plasticulture-grown banana pepper with minimal crop injury and without reducing yield.