Introduction and Participatoryevaluation of Exotic Cultivars of Pepper (Capsicum Spp.) among Small Holder Farmers in South- Western Nigeria

Abstract

Pepper (Capsicum spp.) production by farmers in southwestern Nigeria is limited by low yield due to poor genetic potentials of most cultivars available, use of poor quality seeds, disease infestation, and poor managment practices among others. To overcome the constraints, some varieties of pepper developed at Embrapa Brazil and NIHORT Nigeria, were introducedfollowed bytraining of 1 00 small scale farmers . Participatory field demonstrations of the improved varieties of pepper were carried out to determine acceptability some of these pepp er varieties among f armers . T he two Brazilian sweet bell peppers (Z105 , Z103 ) singificantly outyielded the local variety (F102). Two of the Rhombus shaped vaireties introduced (Z106 and Z107) also recorded sifgnificantly h igher yield than t he local varieties. Famers‟ ranking of the varietiesindicates preference for all the exotic lines on all paramters . Based on the results , four Brazillian vareit ies, Z103, Z105, Z106 and Z107 we re selected for widespread promotion .