Seedlings are produced in specialized commercial nurseries during the last two decades. Peat is the most common growing medium in the conventional or organic seedling production. However, there is a need to develop alternative growing media due to the concerns about the peat in particularly in organic seedling production. The aim of this research was to develop growing medium using local resources as peat alternative in organic pepper seedlings production. Bell and sweet pepper cultivars cv.

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... enekon F1 and cv. Sağnak F1 respectively were sown into trays having 6 treatments composed of (1) local peat + clinoptilolite + composted farmyard manure (LP+CLI+CFM) (1:1:1; v:v), (2) local peat + vermicompost (60%LP+40%VC)(1.5:1, v:v), (3) local peat + clinoptilolite + vermicompost (LP+CLI+VC)(1:1:1; v:v), (4) local peat + perlite + composted farmyard manure (LP+PER+CFM)(1:1:1; v:v), (5) local peat + perlite + vermicompost (LP+PER+VC)(1:1:1; v:v) and (6) peat (P)(as control). After germination in a growth chamber for 3 days, seedlings were moved to a PE greenhouse which is specialized for seedling growing. Seedlings were fertilized by liquid composted farmyard manure (30 L ha -1 ) once a day. Germination rate of seeds, stem and root length, fresh and dry weight of seedlings were determined when they were ready for planting in 38 days. The results showed that among the tested media for both pepper cultivars, LP+CLI+VC and 60%LP+40%VC were found as promising peat alternatives for commercial use considering their effects on seedling quality. 248 | P a g e www.iiste.org Discussion A growing medium supports the plant and provides water and nutrients. Selection of a good growing medium is fundamental for a good nursery management and healthy plant growth (Jacobs et al., 2009). Physical (structure and structural stability, water holding capacity, bulk density, pore space/air capacity, wettability), chemical (pH, electrical conductivity, nutrient content, organic matter, cation exchange capacity, buffer capacity), biological (absence of pathogens, pests, weeds, microbial activity, presence of beneficial organisms, storage life) and economical (availability, consistency of quality, price, plant requirements, cultivation technique) characteristics of a growing medium should be taken into account for seed germination and early plant growth in a limited volume (Schmilewski, 2008) . In this study, five growing media composed of locally available substrates were compared with peat. Among the tested media, 60%LP+40%VC and LP+PER+VC had the germination rate as high as peat in bell pepper cultivar. This could be related to the moisture level and physical parameters of growing media. Similar results were obtained in tomato (Tüzel et al., 2015) and watermelon . The responses of the growing media in terms of shoot growth, LP+CLI+VC in Ergenekon and growing media containing VC had higher shoot length and fresh weights. This could be attributed to the physical characteristics and nutrient content of clinoptilolite (Trinchera et al., 2010) and vermicompost (Ievinsh, 2011) . However, higher EC levels in the growing media particularly the ones having composted farmyard manure also affected adversely root growth and biomass (Jacobs and Timmer, 2005) . It was concluded that for both cultivars among the tested media, LP+CLI+VC and 60%LP+40%VC were found as promising peat alternatives for commercial use considering their effects on seedling quality.