Abstract
ABSTRACT Irrigated fruit crops have an important role in the economic and social aspects in the region of the Sub-middle São Francisco River Valley. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate soil salinity and the productive aspects of the mango crop, cv. Tommy Atkins, fertigated with doses of potassium chloride (KCl) and potassium sulfate (K2SO4) during two crop cycles (from January to March 2014 and from January to March 2015). The experiment was carried out in a strip-split-plot design and five potassium doses (50, 75, 100, 125 and 150% of the recommended dose) as plots and two potassium sources (KCl and K2SO4) as subplots, with four replicates. Soil electrical conductivity (EC), exchangeable sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) contents and pH were evaluated. In addition, the number of commercial fruits and yield were determined. The fertilization with KCl resulted in higher soil EC compared with K2SO4 fertigation. Soil Na+ and K+ contents increased with increasing doses of fertilizers. K2SO4 was more efficient for the production per plant and yield than KCl. Thus, under the conditions of this study, the K2SO4 dose of 174.24 g plant-1 (24.89 kg ha-1 or 96.8% of recommendation, spacing of 10 x 7 m) was recommended for a yield of 23.1 t ha-1 of mango fruits, cv. Tommy Atkins.
Highlights
IntroductionThe Sub-middle São Francisco River Valley is considered as the largest national producer of mango in irrigated regime, producing approximately 120 thousand tons of mango in 2014, which corresponded to more than 93% of the Brazilian exportations of mango fruits (CEPEA, 2015).The Sub-middle São Francisco River Valley is found in the semi-arid region, which, due to its climatic characteristics, such as poorly drained soils, low rainfall, high evapotranspiration and inadequate use of irrigation and fertilizers, can aggravate the salinization of agricultural areas, interfering with the development and production of the plants, because of the increase in the osmotic pressure of the soil solution, which reduces the water absorption potential of the plants (Filippou et al, 2014).Potassium sulfate (K2SO4) has salt index per unit of K2O of approximately half (46) the salt index of potassium chloride (KCl) (116), which makes it more indicated for soils prone to salinization
The Sub-middle São Francisco River Valley is found in the semi-arid region, which, due to its climatic characteristics, such as poorly drained soils, low rainfall, high evapotranspiration and inadequate use of irrigation and fertilizers, can aggravate the salinization of agricultural areas, interfering with the development and production of the plants, because of the increase in the osmotic pressure of the soil solution, which reduces the water absorption potential of the plants (Filippou et al, 2014)
K2SO4 is generally more recommended for the application in the mango crop, due to the sensitivity of this crop to salinity and excess of chloride (Zuazo et al, 2003)
Summary
The Sub-middle São Francisco River Valley is considered as the largest national producer of mango in irrigated regime, producing approximately 120 thousand tons of mango in 2014, which corresponded to more than 93% of the Brazilian exportations of mango fruits (CEPEA, 2015).The Sub-middle São Francisco River Valley is found in the semi-arid region, which, due to its climatic characteristics, such as poorly drained soils, low rainfall, high evapotranspiration and inadequate use of irrigation and fertilizers, can aggravate the salinization of agricultural areas, interfering with the development and production of the plants, because of the increase in the osmotic pressure of the soil solution, which reduces the water absorption potential of the plants (Filippou et al, 2014).Potassium sulfate (K2SO4) has salt index per unit of K2O of approximately half (46) the salt index of potassium chloride (KCl) (116), which makes it more indicated for soils prone to salinization. The Sub-middle São Francisco River Valley is considered as the largest national producer of mango in irrigated regime, producing approximately 120 thousand tons of mango in 2014, which corresponded to more than 93% of the Brazilian exportations of mango fruits (CEPEA, 2015). The Sub-middle São Francisco River Valley is found in the semi-arid region, which, due to its climatic characteristics, such as poorly drained soils, low rainfall, high evapotranspiration and inadequate use of irrigation and fertilizers, can aggravate the salinization of agricultural areas, interfering with the development and production of the plants, because of the increase in the osmotic pressure of the soil solution, which reduces the water absorption potential of the plants (Filippou et al, 2014). The excess of K can cause imbalance in the levels of calcium and magnesium (Almeida et al, 2015), which evidences the importance of a good fertilization program
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