Efecto del sustrato y la distancia de siembra entre plantas sobre el crecimiento de plantas de pimentón (Capsicum annuum L.) en un sistema hidropónico sin cobertura

the hydroponic systems are important alternatives for substituting the traditional methods in the pepper (capsicum annuum l.) commercial production. in order to analyze vegetative growth as a function of plant spacing and substrate use, in pepper plants hybrid xp 12401, the following growth variables were determined: dry matter of leaf, stem, root and total, leaf area index, and growth rate every 15 days, in hydroponic system without cover, in lara, venezuela. treatments used were: substrate 100% of coconut fiber and the mixer 50% coconut fiber + 50% coffee parchment and two plant spacing, 30 and 60 cm between plants. a split plot design with factorial arrangement 2 x 2 (two substrates and two plant densities) with 5 replicates was used. the dry matter of leaf, stem, root and total were higher with the substrate of 100% fiber and plant spacing of 60 cm all the period. with plant age increase the dry weight. the leaf area index increased until 62 days, by decreasing drastically to 77 days and the growth rate increased toward 47 days to drastically diminish toward the 62 days and subsequently increase in a lightly way toward the 77 days. the plants showed a sigmoidal growth curve, with a rapid vegetative growth from transplantation until 47 after that, from this moment, the growth rate decrease toward the 62 days after transplanting.