Sweet pepper belongs to vegetables with high biological value, characteristic taste and health-promoting features, which depend on the content of many elements with antioxidant capacity. Pepper fruits are an important source of mineral components for people. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different foliar feeding regimes with the use of calcium on the content of macro- and microelements in sweet pepper fruits. The experiment with the sweet pepper cultivar Caryca F1 was carried out under field conditions in 2010-2011. Various calcium preparations: Ca(NO3)2 , Insol Ca, Librel Ca, were applied in plant nutrition. The evaluated preparations were sprayed 3 and 5 times, in the concentration of 1%, until complete wetness of the plants. Control fields were sprayed with water. No significant influence of the examined factors on the dry matter content (%) was recorded in the fruits of cv. Caryca F1 sweet pepper cultivated in a field. However, the influence of the applied calcium preparations on the content of N-total, P, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu in pepper fruits was shown to vary. After an application of Ca(NO3)2,  higher concentrations of K, Zn, Cu were demonstrated; an application of Insol Ca stimulated a higher content of K and Cu; more K, Fe, Zn and Cu occurred in the fruit after feeding with  Librel Ca, and the content of P was lower after an application of Insol Ca and Librel Ca, all versus the control. The different number of treatments did not have any significant effect on the chemical content of pepper fruits, except for Fe and Mn, where 5 treatments increased the content of these elements in pepper fruits. The positive influence of the applied calcium preparations and of the number of treatments on the accumulation of Ca in pepper fruits were proven. For example, 5 treatments were demonstrated to have increased the calcium content in fruits by an average 25.3%, and 3 treatments raised the above trait by 15.3% above the control.

20.2.2015