Efeito da salinidade da água de irrigação e substratos no crescimento inicial do meloeiro.

Abstract

The melon ( Cucumis meio L) is a crop species of great socioeconomic imporá for the Northeast, however, the cultivation in this region requires the use of irrigation, however the water available for irrigation in this region has a high concentration of dissolved salts affecting plant growth. With that aimed to study the production of melon seedlings for different substrates irrigated with saline water. The experiment was realized in a greenhouse at the Center of Science and Technology Agrifood - CCTA. of the Federal University of Campina Grande, UFCG, Pombas, PB, Brazil. We adopted a completely randomized design in a factorial 4 x 3 x 2 consists of four leveis of irrigation water salinity ( 0.3 , 1 .5, 3.0 and 4.5 dS m-l ) and three substrates [ S = ground] S + CO : soil + organic compound (2: 1)l and S + E : soir + manure ( 2: 1) ] , and two varieties of melon (VI : Gaúcho Casca de Carvalho ; V2 = Hales Best Jumbo ) , totaling 24 treatments with four replications and three planta per repetition. The variables analyzed were plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, leaf área, shoot dry weight, root dry mass and total dry mass. Growth and dry matter accumulation of both varieties were reduced with increasing irrigation water salinity. The variety Gaúcho Casca de Carvalho is the most sensitive to salinity leveis studied. The substrate made of soir with organic compost was what provided the greatest growth and biomass accumulation, independent of salinity leveis studied, the most suitable for production of melon seedlings.