Fotossíntese e variáveis agronômicas em plantas de berinjela sob influência do silício na atenuação do estresse hídrico.

Abstract

The eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is a crop of great economic and social importance, being cultivated in several countries, its production, like that of all agricultural crops, is dependent on factors such as water, nutrients and light. In view of this, the objective was to evaluate photosynthesis and agronomic variables in eggplant plants under silicon influence in the attenuation of water stress. For that, a greenhouse experiment was carried out at the Federal University of Campina Grande at the Center for Agro-Food Science and Technology Campus of Pombal-PB, using the experimental design in a randomized block design, with a 5 x 2 factorial scheme, comprising five doses of silicon (0, 75, 150, 225 and 300 mg dm-3) and to two irrigation slides, 50% and 100% of the real evapotranspiration (ETr), with four replications totaling 40 experimental units. Silicon provided attenuation of water stress on the growth of eggplant plants. For the agronomic variables, the doses of 75, 150 and 300 mg dm-3 of silicon were the most adequate for water stress attenuation. The eggplant plants obtained better growth when the correspondent blade was applied to 100% of the ETr. The silicon dose in the order of 225 mg dm-3 promoted attenuation of water stress in relation to the efficiency of the carboxylation and the intrinsic efficiency of water use. The doses of silicon applied in the eggplant plants had an effect of attenuating the water stress in relation to the chlorophyll a fluorescence.