Crescimento inicial de cultivares de pimentão sob estresse salino

Abstract

This work aimed to evaluate the initial growth of different cultivars of pepper under salt stress of irrigation water. An experiment was carried out from March to April 2015 in Plant Science Department of the greenhouse at the Federal University of Ceará - UFC, located in Fortaleza, CE. The experimental design was completely randomized in a factorial 4 x 5, with five replications, where the experimental unit consisted of a plastic vessel with a capacity of 1 L with two plants. The treatments resulted from the combination of four pepper cultivars (All Big, Casca Dura, Quadrado Vermelho e Yolo Wonder) with 5 irrigation water salinity levels (0.5, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0; 8.0 dS m-1). The application of treatments with salt stress began at twenty days after sowing. At 43 days after sowing the plants were collected by cutting flush to the soil surface and packed in plastic bags properly identified and transported to the Laboratory of the Department of Plant Science, for analysis. The evaluations carried out were: plant height, stem diameter, leaf area, leaf number, root length, photosynthesis, dry weight of shoot, root and total plant. It was observed for all cultivars that initial growth and photosynthesis were adversely affected with increasing salinity levels of irrigation water. Although some cultivars have shown differences between them according to each level of salinity for some variables, in general there was none that stand out regarding other when subjected to salt stress.