Influence of sprayable mulch colour on yield of eggplant (Solanum melongena L. cv. Millionaire)

Planting beds. were treated with sprayable, synthetic latex film (BASF, Charlotte, NC, USA) and oversprayed with black, white, red, blue, yellow or silver oil-based paint to study the effect of coloured spray mulches on yield of eggplant (Solanum melongena L. cv. Millionaire). Nonpainted mulch base and bare ground plots served as control treatments. Individual experimental units consisted of three rows, 102 cm wide x 7.3 m long, transplanted with 8 plants per row. Treatments were replicated in four blocks each at two separate locations near Fresno, CA. Plants grown on silver-painted beds produced significantly greater numbers (42-221%) of fruit and total fruit weight (12-237%) than all other treatments at both locations after eight harvests. Silver-painted mulch stimulated significantly greater flowering and fruit set numbers prior to the first harvest at one site. Apart from silver, only blue-and white-coloured mulches provided increased numbers and/or fresh weight yields at one site only. Mulched plots painted with other colours did not produce yields different from either the bare ground or nonpainted mulch base controls at either site. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.