| Abstract: Peat is a non-renewable resource in the short term, while coconut-bran as a cultivation substrate can realize the recycling of garden waste. In order to alleviate the pressure of peat utilization and explore the possibility of replacing peat with coconut-bran for pepper plug-seedling cultivation, peat, vermiculite, perlite, and coconut-bran were used as the materials of the seedling composite substrate to carry out the experiment. Under the condition of that 20% perlite and 20% vermiculite (volume ratio) were added to the composite substrate, seven treatments were designed with the treatment of peat : vermiculite : perlite = 3 : 1 : 1 (volume ratio) as the control to study the effects of different proportions of coconut-bran replacing peat on growth and physiology of plug-seedlings of pepper. The results showed that the treatments of coconut-bran instead of peat in the composite substrate had different effects on the growth index, dry and fresh weight and SPAD value of pepper seedlings. Compared with the control, the treatment of coconut-bran : vermiculite : perlite = 3 : 1 : 1 (volume ratio) had the best effect, which not only promoted the growth of pepper seedlings, signifi cantly increased plant height and stem diameter, but also significantly improved the dry and fresh weight of the whole pepper plant. Then, the strong seedlings index was higher than control, but the strong seedlings index and SPAD value had no significant difference with the control. In conclusion, coconut-bran instead of peat could effectively improve the quality of pepper seedlings, and coconut-bran : vermiculite : perlite = 3 : 1 : 1 (volume ratio) was the best combination of pepper seedlings, indicating that coconut-bran could completely replace peat for plug-seedling of pepper. |