Responses of Morphological and Yield Components of Pepper in Treatments of Glomus deserticola Trappe, Bloss & J. A. Menge, Pleurotus pulmonarius (Fr.) Quél. compost and Poultry Manure

The response of five varieties of pepper was investigated at the research farm of the Department of Botany, University of Ibadan. Five treatments of Glomus deserticola (AMF), poultry manure (PM), Pleurotus pulmonarius (SMC) were inoculated into 5 kg of sterile soil in poly pots, while uninoculated served as control. The treatment and varieties produced highly significant (p<0.01) effects on the total number of fruit, while total fresh weight was highly significant for treatment. Jos pepper and treatment combinations of AMF + PM produced the highest mean for the total number of 24.07 and 25.87 fruits, while Bell pepper had highest total fresh weight and dry weight of 12.15 g and 12.05 g respectively. The leaf length, leaf width, the number of leaves, number of branches and stem girth of Long pepper were significantly higher with 9.20 cm, 4.63 cm, 110.01 cm, 5.89 cm and 0.82 cm respectively, while plant height (48.82 cm) and stem height (30.27 cm) of cherry pepper had the highest. The plant height was positive and strongly correlated (p< 0.01) with stem height, leaf width, leaf length, number of leaves and stem girth at r= 0.84, 0.80, 0.83, 0.79 and 0.60 respectively. Also, there was a positive association between the total number of fruits and total fresh weight (r= 0.56). However, the selection of Jos, Bell, Long and Cherry pepper based on morphological and yielding traits as a result of individual and combined treatments of Glomus deserticola, Pleurotus pulmonarius compost, and poultry manure could play major roles in food security.