Investigation on the influence of seedling's physiological attributes on productivity in black pepper.

Black pepper is a perennial crop which takes a minimum of five years for yield stabilization. Hence, any seedling character which reflects its productivity may be of use in identifying the probable high yielding types at an early stage. Present study this to analyse the influence of some physiological and biochemical parameters such as leaf and stem carbohydrate status, nitrate reductase and sucrose phosphate synthase activities and leaf gas exchange parameters during pre-bearing and bearing stages on productivity in black pepper. Field grown plants (1–2 years) were used for the study. Results revealed that leaf starch and sucrose phosphate synthase activity did not show significant correlation with productivity. Leaf photosynthesis, nitrate reductase activity and stomatal conductance showed significant positive correlation while leaf temperature had significant negative correlation with productivity. It was concluded that in black pepper, physiological traits such as high nitrate reductase activity, photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance and low leaf temperature may be useful in identifying high yielding types during juvenile stage itself.