PurposeClimate change vulnerability, soil salinity, increasing CO2 concentration and the risk of recurrent droughts to agricultural productivity requires alternative production systems such as soilless cultivation in arid to semi-arid zones to ensure sustainable production, thereby, ensuring food security for sprawling population. The present study aimed to investigate the performance of capsicum cultivars in different soilless cultivation systems.MethodTen capsicum cultivars were grown under three soilless growing systems (grow bag system, trough system and Dutch bucket system) laid out under a completely randomized design (CRD) in split plot arrangement with three replications.ResultsResults indicated that the biomass traits, gas exchange fluxes, mineral contents and yield related attributes were observed higher under trough cultivation system, whereas, biochemical and enzymatic antioxidant activities were superior under grow bag culture. In comparison to grow bag system, trough system exhibited higher RL (23.28%), photosynthetic rate (16.00%), stomatal conductance (8.91%), WUE (2.45%) and K contents (17.27%), resulting in higher yield (17.29%). The ascorbic acidcontent and antioxidant enzyme activities of peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase increased by 6.17%, 12.14%, 17.39% and 13.36%, respectively, under grow bag system compared to the trough growing system. The cultivar Red Jet showed consistent and maximum performance in all cropping system.ConclusionThe study suggests that Red Jet cultivar should be cultivated under trough soilless cultivation system for higher productivity in partially controlled greenhouse, as this approach represents a cost-effective strategy, resulting in higher benefit-cost ratio compared to other systems.