Abstract
ABSTRACT Due to water limitations in terms of both quantity and quality in the semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil, the use of waters with high concentrations of salts become necessary in irrigated agriculture. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the growth and production of grafted West Indian cherry under saline water irrigation and potassium fertilization. The experiment was carried out in drainage lysimeters under protected environment conditions, using a Regolithic Neosol with sandy loam texture. Treatments resulted from the combination of two levels of electrical conductivity - ECw (0.8 and 3.8 dS m-1) of irrigation water and four doses of potassium (50, 75, 100 and 125% of the recommendation of Musser), arranged in a randomized block design, with three replicates. Irrigation water salinity of 3.8 dS m-1 markedly inhibited the growth in stem diameter and mean fruit weight of West Indian cherry. Potassium fertilization mitigated the deleterious effects of salt stress on the relative growth in stem diameter of the rootstock, total number of fruits and total fresh mass of fruits of West Indian cherry, with highest values in plants irrigated with water of lowest level of salinity associated with the highest dose of K2O.
Highlights
West Indian cherry (Malpighia emarginata) is a fruit crop widely grown in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil and stands out for its high nutritional value, especially as a source of ascorbic acid, vitamin A, iron, calcium and vitamins B-complex: thiamine, riboflavin and niacin (Esashika et al, 2013)
Potassium fertilization mitigated the deleterious effects of salt stress on the relative growth in stem diameter of the rootstock, total number of fruits and total fresh mass of fruits of West Indian cherry, with highest values in plants irrigated with water of lowest level of salinity associated with the highest dose of K2O
Knowledge on the degree of tolerance of crops to salinity may allow the use of waters with a high concentration of salts, a common situation found in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil (Nobre et al, 2010; Souza et al, 2017)
Summary
West Indian cherry (Malpighia emarginata) is a fruit crop widely grown in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil and stands out for its high nutritional value, especially as a source of ascorbic acid, vitamin A, iron, calcium and vitamins B-complex: thiamine, riboflavin and niacin (Esashika et al, 2013). It is consumed both fresh and industrialized, emerging as a way to boost the economy and as an alternative for the development of the region (Almeida et al, 2014). It is necessary to conduct studies in order to identify salinity-tolerance indices of crops, including West Indian cherry, aiming to establish the degree of restriction of certain types of water for irrigation (Lima et al, 2014), because there are few studies in the literature with this fruit crop under salt stress conditions in the post-grafting stage (Sá et al, 2017, 2018)
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