Abstract
The objective was to study the initial development and tolerance of lettuce cultivars subjected to different levels of water salinity in the seedling production stage in order to determine the genotypes of the cultivars that are most sensitive and tolerant to saline water. The experiment was carried out in protected environment at the Center of Sciences and Agri-food Technology-CCTA of the Federal University of Campina Grande-UFCG, located in Pombal, Paraíba, Brazil, from August to September 2014. The study evaluated five lettuce cultivars (C1-’Simpson Semente Preta’, C2-’Alba’, C3-’Mimosa Vermelha’, C4-’Veneranda’ and C5-’Mônica Sf 31’) and five levels of irrigation water salinity (0.6 (control), 1.2, 1.8, 2.4 and 3.0 dS m-1), arranged in a factorial scheme 5 × 5, in a completely randomized experimental design, with four replicates. Plants were grown on trays for 20 days after sowing, period in which irrigations were daily applied, and evaluated for emergence, growth, phytomass accumulation and tolerance index of the lettuce cultivars. The increase in irrigation water salinity reduced emergence, growth and dry matter accumulation in the lettuce plants, and the cultivars C2-’Alba’ and C4-’Veneranda’ were the most tolerant to salinity. Tolerance to salinity occurred in the following order C2-’Alba’ = C4-’Veneranda’ > C1-’Simpson Semente Preta’ > C3-’Mimosa Vermelha’ = C5-’Mônica Sf 31’.
Highlights
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa), belonging to the Asteraceae family, is a vegetable highly appreciated worldwide, generally consumed fresh in the form of salads
To prepare the waters with the specific electrical conductivities (EC), the salts were weighed according to the treatment, and water was added until reaching the desired EC levels, which were confirmed using a portable conductivity meter with conductivity adjusted to the temperature of 25 oC
The obtained data were subjected to analysis of variance by F test and, in cases of significance, regression analyses were applied for the factor levels of irrigation water salinity and Tukey test was applied for the factor cultivars, both at 0.05 probability level, using the statistical program SISVAR® (Ferreira, 2011)
Summary
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa), belonging to the Asteraceae family, is a vegetable highly appreciated worldwide, generally consumed fresh in the form of salads. The lower quality of the water available for agricultural use in this region leads to large problems in the economic potential of lettuce cultivation, due to the presence of high contents of salts in the irrigation water (Alves et al, 2011; Dias et al, 2011; Oliveira et al, 2011; Santos et al, 2011; Sarmento et al, 2014). It causes toxicity by ions (Na+ and Cl-) that are absorbed by plants, reducing their development (Dias & Blanco, 2010; Mesquita et al, 2015) In this context, saline water management strategies in the agriculture of arid and semi-arid regions are of fundamental importance for the development of these regions, requiring studies that allow the utilization of saline water in food production (Paulus et al, 2010). Sensitivity, as well as tolerance, will depend on various factors, which can be environmental or due to genetic variability
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