Respons Produksi dan Kepedasan terhadap Kepadatan Populasi pada Budidaya Cabai menggunakan Mulsa Polyethylene dan Irigasi Tetes

Abstract

Chili is a horticultural product widely consumed in fresh and processed form; processed chili can be a paste, dry, or powder. Currently, Indonesia still imports dried chili because the price of imported dried chili is cheaper than local dried chili. The production costs of the chili business can be managed by applying proper cultivation technology management. One way to reduce production costs is to use chili varieties that can be harvested dry on trees, thereby reducing post-harvest drying costs. Meanwhile, close spacing can increase chili production, so the yield per unit area will be higher. This research aims to get chili varieties that can dry on trees and the proper spacing for dried chili cultivation to increase production. The experiment was conducted at the Cikarawang Experimental Garden, IPB, from August 2022–January 2023. This experiment used split plot factorial; the main plots were varieties (Sios Tavi and Tangguh (Curly red chili, Baja (big red chili)) and subplots were spacing (normal:30x50 cm; tight:25x25 cm), consisting of 4 replicates. The experimental results showed that the Tangguh variety with densely spaced plants had the best dry chili production on trees based on the total number of fruits per plot (1951.50), weight total per plot (5.05 kg), or per hectare (6.86 tons ha-1), the capsaicin value of Sios Tavi, Baja, and Tangguh varieties was included in the moderate spicy category.
Keywords: Dried chilies, curly red chilies, big red chilies, spacing.