The decline in curly chili
production can be caused by several things, such as during the rainy season,
cultivation is an obstacle for farmers in Wonogiri Regency and still requires
various agricultural technology innovations to increase chili productivity.
This study aims to examine several effects of treatments on the growth and
yield of curly chili plants by providing screens, mulching, and silica
fertilizer. The research was conducted in agricultural land of Gemawang
Village, Ngadirojo District, Wonogiri Regency, Central Java; Integrated Laboratory
of Sub-Chemistry; Plant Physiology and Biotechnology Laboratory, UNS. Soil
analysis was conducted at the Physics and Soil Conservation Laboratory, Faculty
of Agriculture, UNS in February - May 2024. The method used was a single plot
of six treatments with each treatment without replication, namely screen house
without UV plastic, screen house with UV plastic, mulch with circular holes
(control), mulch with closed holes, provision of silica fertilizer with open
hole mulch, provision of silica fertilizer with closed hole mulch. Observation
variables were temperature, air humidity, light intensity, plant height, number
of leaves, leaf area, chlorophyll content, stomata density, fruit diameter,
fruit length, number of fruits per plot, number of fruits per plant, fresh
fruit weight. Data analysis used was the T test with a significance level of
95% and correlation test. The results showed that the provision of screen + UV
plastic increased growth that correlated with the yield of curly chili plants
compared to other treatments. The provision of screen and UV plastic also
provided a higher average number of leaves than plants that were not given
screen covers and UV plastic. The fresh weight of providing screen covers and
providing UV plastic was greater than the treatment that was not given a screen.
