Abstract
Polyethylene coated calcium carbide (PCC) is a potent and continuous slowly releasing source of acetylene and ethylene. It
potentially improves plant growth by affecting physiology of plant. A pot study was conducted to investigate comparative
effects of different rates of PCC on growth and yield attributes of sweet pepper. PCC performed better when applied with soil
applied fertilizers. Results revealed that hormonal properties of calcium carbide significantly influenced physiological
nutrient use efficiency and vegetative growth by affecting photosynthetic and physiological parameters of sweet pepper.
Application of 20 mg PCC kg-1
soil with soil applied recommended dose of NPK fertilizers significantly improved the net
photosynthetic rate by 32%, stomatal conductance by 11%, transpiration rate by 14%, carboxylation efficiency by 47%,
physiological water use efficiency by 13%, physiological nitrogen use efficiency by 29% over the control treatment. This
improvement in physiological attributes resulted in increase in leaf area by 20%, leaf area index by 78%, total plant dry
weight by 35%, flower and fruits by 29% and fruit yield by 24% compared to the treatment of alone recommended dose of
NPK fertilizers. Present study suggests that application of PCC particularly at the rate of 20mg PCC kg-1
soil plus
recommended dose of NPK fertilizers improved about 25% sweet pepper production compared to its production in the alone
recommended fertilizer treatment.
