Olive Branch Pruning Material And Biodegradable Alternative Performances On Organic Pepper (Capsicum Annuum L.) Production In Turkey

Contentious inputs in management of organic farming include the use of plastic for mulching in vegetable crops. The Horizon2020 project Organic-PLUS (GA774340) aims to develop and promote alternatives to fossil-derived plastic used for mulching. In Turkey, one promising alternative tested in field during 2019 was finely chopped pruning materials from olive (Olea europaea L.) branch, which performed well on organic growing of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in field. Olive material showed better weed suppression than biodegradable plastic mulch in irrigated pepper during summer in a field experiment in Izmir/Turkey. One reason for this is that the plastic foils degraded too quickly under Turkish field conditions with a pepper crop. Pruning materials for mulching is an interesting alternative, but practical method for producing and applying this material in field needs to be developed.