Abstract
HIGHLIGHTS The salinity of the water reduces the number and diameter of the fruits and, the total weight of West Indian cherry fruits. Potassium-phosphorus fertilization attenuates the deleterious effects of salt stress on West Indian cherry production. The effect of water salinity on West Indian cherry fruit varies with salt stress intensity and expo-sure time to salinity.
Highlights
The cultivation of West Indian cherry (Malpighia emarginata Sesse & Moc. ex DC.) stands out in the Brazilian fruit growing scene, due to the high levels of vitamin C, anthocyanins and carotenoids in its fruits (Dias et al, 2018)
Water salinity significantly influenced the total weight of fruits per plant (TWFr), average weight of fruits (AWFr) and the equatorial (EDFr) and polar (PDFr) diameters of fruits of West Indian cherry in both production cycles, while the number of fruits (NFr) was significantly affected only in the first production cycle (Table 1)
Potassium-phosphorus combinations caused a significant difference in AWFr only in the second production cycle, while TWFr, number of fruits per plant (NFr) and PDFr were influenced in both production cycles
Summary
The cultivation of West Indian cherry (Malpighia emarginata Sesse & Moc. ex DC.) stands out in the Brazilian fruit growing scene, due to the high levels of vitamin C, anthocyanins and carotenoids in its fruits (Dias et al, 2018). Due to low rainfall and high evapotranspiration rates, irrigation is an essential practice to ensure agricultural production in the semi-arid region; waters with high concentrations of dissolved salts are commonly found in this region (Dalchiavon et al, 2016). The use of these saline waters leads to excessive accumulation of salts in the soil, which reduces the availability of water to plants, due to the osmotic effect, nutritional imbalance and toxicity of specific ions in the plant, compromising crop production (Cordão Terceiro Neto et al, 2013). K contributes to enzymatic activation, respiration and photosynthesis, improves water balance and competes with Na+ (Heidari & Jamshid, 2010), while P acts in energy storage, root development, water use efficiency and nutrient absorption and use (Diniz et al, 2018)
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