General Information

  • Category- Fruit, drug, herb, spice
  • Binomial Name- Piper nigrum
  • Common Names- Pepper corn, Kali mirch
  • Spread- 144-180 inches
  • Height- 157-360 inches
  • Average Production- 20 to 30 fruiting spikes per stem
  • Days to Maturity- 1095-1460 days

Environmental Requirements:

  • Soil- Clay loam, red loam, sandy loam and lateritic soils 
  • Soil Moisture- 22%
  • Soil pH- 5.5-6.5
  • Sun Requirements- Full sun/Partial sun
  • Best Time to Plant- Spring (February-March)

Tips to Grow Black pepper:

  1. Arrange good quality of black pepper seeds/ cuttings. Soak the seeds in warm water for 24 hour before planting. If you want to grow black pepper by cutting, there is no need to soak the cuttings.
  2. Soil should be loam and well draining. It should be moist but not wet. Add compost, sand, peat to make soil well-draining
  3. Arrange a tray and fill it with the soil. Sow your seeds 1\4 inches deep in the soil. After 30-40 days when germination occur, transplant your seedlings.
  4. If you grow black paper by cutting, then place the bottom of your cutting it the soil by making a hole in container soil.
  5. We can add compost to our plant twice in a month for better growth. Mulch your plant 2-4 inch below the soil surface, so your plant’s roots can more fully absorb it.
  6. After 2-3 years, when your plant is fully-grown, it will grow flowers and fruits. When peppercorns are ready to pick, they will turn from green to light red.
  7. Buy an adult pepper plant if you want to harvest your pepper plant sooner.

Chemical Constituents of Black pepper:

  • Volatile oil (1-2.5 percent). Aroma is due to volatile oil which contains terpenes (alpha and beta pinene), phallandrene and sesquiterpenes.
  • Crystalline alkaloids piperine, piperettine and a resin. Pungency is due to piperine and the resin.

Uses:

  • As a carminative.
  • As a condiment.
  • Once used in gonorrhoea and chronic bronchitis.
  • As a stimulant, irritant, tonic and febrifuge.
Vegetables