Abstract
The acerola tree is one of the most promising fruit trees of the Brazilian fruit sector, demanding the development of studies that indicate the proper conditions to improve its production under adverse conditions. Consequently, our purpose was to evaluate the growth of Malpighia emaginata D.C in several substrates and under ascending levels of irrigation water salinity. The experiment was conducted in a 4 × 5 factorial scheme randomized block design, which comprised four substrates (S1 = soil; S2 = soil with a 10% addition of cattle manure; S3 = soil with a 10% addition of organic compounds; and S4 - soil with a 5% addition of cattle manure and a 5% addition of organic compounds) and five CEa salt levels (0.3, 1.0, 1.7, 2.7, and 3.5 dS m-1). The plant height and stem diameter variables were not affected by the studied factors. The interaction between salinity and the substrates affected the root growth and the build-up of the plants’ fresh and dry biomass, resulting in the increase of the values obtained by the substrates containing manure and organic compounds. The seedlings’ quality, represented by the height/stem diameter and aerial part/root dry mass ratios, and by the Dickson quality index, indicated that the plants produced in the substrates 2 and 3 were more vigorous.
Highlights
The acerola tree (Malpighia emaginata D.C.) is a fruit tree of high acceptance in the Brazilian fruit sector due to its favorable developing environmental features
Obtaining good quality seedlings depends on several factors, including which substrate is used in their production
The experimental design employed was of randomized blocks, whose treatments were distributed in a 5 × 4 factorial scheme, representing five irrigation water salt levels (0.3, 1.0, 1.7, 2.7, and 3.5 dS m-1) and four substrates (S1 = soil; S2 = soil with a 10% addition of cattle manure; S3 = soil with a 10% addition of organic compounds; and S4 - soil with a 5% addition of cattle manure and a 5% addition of organic compounds), with four repetitions and two plants by patch
Summary
The acerola tree (Malpighia emaginata D.C.) is a fruit tree of high acceptance in the Brazilian fruit sector due to its favorable developing environmental features. Vol 10, No 8; 2018 we need to adopt a procedure that would enable us the use water of high salinity levels to satisfy the requirements of the agricultural sector (Nascimento et al, 2017). In this context, the purpose hereof was to evaluate the influence of different substrates and electrical conductivities of the irrigation water on the growth of Malpighia emaginata D.C
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