Crescimento e produção de cultivares de Palma Forrageira sob diferentes níveis de salinidade da água de irrigação.

Abstract

The low availability of good quality water is one of the limiting factors for the development of agriculture in the Brazilian semi-arid region, where much of this available water comes from crystalline wells and is considered saline. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of different salinity levels of irrigation water on growth and yield of forage palm cultivars in the semiarid region. The experimental design was a randomized block design in a 4x3 factorial scheme, with four saline levels (0.2, 2.0, 3.8 and 5.6 dS m-1) and three cultivars (Miúda, Mexican Elephant Ear and IPA- For the growth variables the different salinity levels of irrigation water affect the growth of all evaluated forage palm cultivars. For the emission of cladodes the salinity of the irrigation water did not affect, but for emission of higher orders the decrease with the increase. Most of the traits related to primary cladodes were affected with increasing salinity, but according to the morphological behavior of each cultivar. The Miúda palm is the one that best responds to the increase in the electrical conductivity of the irrigation water, with its highest salinity performance of 3.8 dS m-1, while the Baiana and the Mexican Elephant Ear for the salinity of irrigation. 2,0 dS m-1. For the production variables the cultivar Miúda obtained the highest salinity yield of 4.04 dS m-1, followed by the Mexican Elephant Ear at the saline level of 2.73 dS m-1 and the Bahian salinity at 2,17 dS m-1. The cultivar Miúda when irrigated with salinity of 5.6 dS m-1 has the highest yield for fresh phytomass. Forage palm cultivation is possible under field conditions irrigated with saline waters, provided proper management is carried out.