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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. 3 (2026)

Acceleration of biochemical and nutritional attributes of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) grown in hydroponic system

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.9109
Submitted
26 April 2025
Published
10-07-2026 — Updated on 20-07-2026
Versions

Abstract

Sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum L. cv. ‘Indra’) have a high mineral and antioxidant content, making them nutritionally valuable. Because of urbanisation and population increase, there is a shortage of arable land; however, hydroponic systems provide a good substitute for conventional agriculture. Nitrate is one of the main forms of nitrogen utilised by plants. This study assesses how different nitrate concentrations affect the nutritional value and growth characteristics of sweet peppers cultivated in a hydroponic system. Four treatments of different doses of calcium nitrate (0 M, 0.5 M, 1 M and 2 M) were applied to the sweet pepper plants and several metrics such as average fruit weight, fruit number, biochemical and nutritional characteristics were recorded. The values were compared with those of soil grown sweet peppers. The results showed that higher nitrate concentrations improved the levels of protein, ash, fibre, chlorophyll and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) enzyme activity. Higher nitrate levels were associated with a decrease in total soluble sugar, peroxidase (POD) activity and carbohydrate content. At 1 M nitrate, the highest fruit count (3.66 ± 0.33 fruits/plant), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity (91.29 %) and beta-carotene content (0.04 ± 0.003 mg/g) were recorded. Ascorbate content, crude lipid content and moisture did not exhibit significant differences among the groups. Therefore, sweet peppers grown hydroponically can have higher nutritional and commercial quality when the nitrate supply is optimised.

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