INFLUENCE OF SEEDS AGE ON BIOMETRIC INDICATORS OF SWEET PEPPER UNDER CONDITIONS OF THE FOREST-STEPPE OF THE RIGHT-BANK OF UKRAINE
Authors: Vdovenko Serhii , Shvydkyi Pavlo , Zatolochnyi Oleh 
Published: December 2020

Sweet pepper takes one of the main places in the human diet among all vegetable plants. By the content of healthy vitamins, sweet pepper fruits have a better effect on the absorption of food than greenhouse cucumbers and tomatoes, and therefore sweet pepper is in great demand among consumers.
The difference in the biometric and physiological parameters of sweet pepper of
different age seedlings depends on the duration of growing seedlings. For the study, a sweet pepper variety of domestic selection Aphrodite was used.
At the same time, biometric determinations were carried out over the sweet pepper plant: seedling height, stem diameter before planting, plant mass. The observation method monitored the onset of phenological phases of plant growth and development, and a laboratory method was used to determine biometric parameters.
The appearance of the first leaf was established with clear control of the microclimate parameters and the provision of an appropriate irrigation regime. The formation of the first leaf was observed on the 7th day after emergence. It was proved that the formation of subsequent leaves, the growth of vegetative mass depended significantly on the age of the seedlings: the higher the seedling age, the more real leaves formed, due to the accumulation of dry matter in the leaves and the corresponding nutritional and temperature conditions.
At the time of planting seedlings in open ground, at a constant place of vegetation, the plants were characterized by the presence of 4-6 real leaves, the
height of the seedlings was 12-15 cm with a total weight of 10-12 g, there were no damage by pests and diseases on the surface of the leaves. As a result of different age of seedlings, studies have established that with a decrease in the age of seedlings, a tendency to delay flowering and fruiting was observed.
The age of seedlings directly affects the budding of plants. So, in the variant where the seedlings are 60 days old, the period of budding was observed for 56 days, which was observed 1 day earlier than the control variant. Seedlings of sweet pepper aged 50 and 70 days passed into the budding phase for 57 days. However, seedlings aged 40 days showed a tendency to delay the onset of plant budding.
It has been established that the height of the plant before planting ranged from 14.7 cm to 18.6 cm. The highest rate of plant growth has been distinquished in the variant where the seedlings were 70 days old.
When using the seedling age of 70 days, the test value was 2 controls more than the control index. The option using 60 day old sweet pepper seedlings was characterized by slightly low leaf numbers. The experiments established that when using seedlings with an age of 40 days, the plants were characterized by the smallest number of leaves on the plant.
The age of seedlings and biometric indicators depend on the growing conditions, the timely passage of the photosynthesis process, the provision of nutrients, water. When using the seedling age of 60-70 days, the biometric indicators of seedlings, namely the height of the plants, the number of glosses, the mass of the plant significantly exceeds the biometric indicators of seedlings with an age of 50 or 40 days.
Keywords: sweet pepper, Aphrodite variety, seedling age, biometrics, vegetation, Right-Bank forest-steppe.