Botanical Name: Capsicum annuum
Varieties:
Ujwala: clustered linear and erect fruits high pungent fruits, resistant to bacterial wilt
Jwalamukhi: Protracted fruiting, low pungent fruits
Jwalasakhi: Protracted fruiting, low pungent fruits
Anugraha: Solitary, pendulous linear and light green fruits, medium pungency, resistant to bacterial wilt.
Vellayani Athulya: Low pungent, yellowish green fruits.
Climate & Soil: Warm humid tropics or subtropics.Can tolerate shade to some extent.Well drained sandy loam soils are ideal for growing chilli.
Season: Ideal time for sowing in plains is September to October.In Kerala the seeds are sown in March-April and transplanted in April-May.
Seed rate: 1-1.5kg/ha
Seeds available with VFPCK: Ujwala
Raising Nursery: Seeds are sown in the nursery and 6 weeks old seedlings are transplanted to the main field.
Spacing: Adjust the spacing depending up on the variety, soil fertility and season (45-75 X 45-60 cm.)
Nutrient management : Apply well rotten FYM / compost @ 20-25 t/ha at the time of land preparation and mix well with the soil. A fertilizer dose of 75:40:25 kg N:P2O5: K2O / ha may be given. Half the dose of nitrogen, full phosphorus and half of potash may be applied as basal dose before transplanting. One fourth of nitrogen and half of potash may be applied 20-30 days after planting. The remaining quantities may be applied two months after planting.
Crop Management: Follow timely weeding, irrigation and earthing up.
Pest Management :

• Thrips, Aphids, White flies, Mites : Suck sap from the lower side of the leaf. Kiriyath soap extract and Nattappochedi extract with Malathion 25EC 2ml/l.

Disease Management :

• Bacterial wilt : The whole plant starts wilting, leaves turn yellow and the plant gets dried up within one week. Grow resistant varieties, drench with cow dung supernatent. Soil Solarisation of nursery. Apply Fytolan 4g/l soil drench, , mechanical control.
• Leaf curl Mosaic : Curling of leaves occurs and plants assume witches broom appearance. Kiriyath- soap extract and Nattappochedi extract
Mosaic : Yellow mottled appearance
• Damping off : Seedlings turn yellow. Rotting occurs in the collar region.Soil drench Bordeaux mixture 1%.
• Leaf spot and Fruit rot. : Spots on leaves and discolouration on fruits. Copper oxychloride 3g/l, mechanical control.

Harvesting: Fruits can be harvested from 75 days after transplanting.
Yield: Green chilli yield is about 8-10 tonnes/ha. Dry chilli yield would be 1800 -2200 kg/ha.
Post Harvesting: Chillies for vegetable purpose are generally picked when they are still green but fully grown. The harvesting of fruits can be done during the morning hours to prevent the weight loss Chillies for drying are picked when red and fully ripe. The fruits are cleaned, trimmed, sorted, graded and packed.
Seed Collection: