Influence of Light Filtering Materials on the Growth Performance of Pechay (Brassica rapa)

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Globally, Pechay plant is one of the vulnerable vegetables to global warming. Due to drought and lack of water supply and fertilizers in the Philippines, several farmers encountered a problem on how to improve the growth performance of Pechay. One of the potential solutions to this problem is by introducing light filtering materials. Since many studies did not show what color of light filtering materials could perform best for the growth performance of Pechay, this study was therefore conducted.

METHODS

This study employed the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with five treatments and four replications. Different colors of light filtering materials were used such as blue (Treatment 1), red (Treatment 2), white (Treatment 3), yellow (Treatment 4) and control (Treatment 5). In planting Pechay, cultural management practices were implemented such as land preparation, seeding preparation, out planting of seedlings, care, and maintenance of Pechay, and construction of filter. Data gathering follows every week within one-month observation. Plant height, number of leaves, and width of leaves were measured to examine the growth performance of Pechay. Data were treated using average mean, frequency count, and one-way ANOVA.

RESULTS

Based on the results of the study, red and yellow color of light filtering materials have the highest measurements of Pechay in terms of height, width of leaves, and its number of leaves compared to the control group. It further revealed that there is a significant difference of plant's height, width of leaves, and the number of leaves at 0.05 level of significance.DISCUSSIONSAmong light filtering materials employed in this study, red and yellow color was found consistent in performing the best medium for the growth and development of Pechay. The significant difference of the growth performance of Pechay indicated that there is positive influence of the different colors of light filtering materials. Therefore, it could be deduced that light filtering materials especially red and yellow color are effective for the rapid growth and development of Pechay plant.