Efeito do Cloreto de Sódio sobre o crescimento e acumulação de nutrientes da Mamoneira.

Abstract

Special emphasis has recently been given to the culture of castorbean, however available results about the potential of this culture to develop and to produce when cultivated in salinized areas are not greatly found in the literature. To be a vigorous culture and to disseminate easily it can be of great social and economic importance for Brazil and especially for the Northeast region. Thus, considering the scarce related studies, the current work was aimed to evaluate the tolerance to salinity of this plant species as well the effects of different salinity levels in the nutrient solution on the plant growth. The plants were hidroponically cultivated under greenhouse conditions. The treatments consisted of ten salinity levels that corresponded to the following nutrition solutions CE’ s: 1,7; 2,5; 3,0; 4,0; 5,0; 6,0; 7,5; 9,0; 12,5 e 15,0 dS/m. The experiment was an entirely randomized block design with three replications. The salinity negative affects the castorbean growth and causes visual symptoms of toxicity, which had been characterized by burning of the edges and apex of leaves. With increasing toxicity symptoms intensity the leaves yellowed then dropped off. Castorbean is considered a moderately sensitive plant species to salinity and it has salinity threshold between 2,5 and 1,7 dS/m. It was seen that phosphorus increased in the castorbean roots while potassium of leaves decreased; the calcium and magnesium concentrations kept constant in the roots, and in the leaves calcium concentrated more. The zinc concentration was higher in the stem while cupper was higher in the roots. Iron and manganese concentrated more in the roots and the contents of sodium and chloride significantly increased, mainly of chloride, with increasing external salinity in all plant parts. The sodium and chloride concentrations were higher in the roots followed by leaves and stem.