Estresse salino e biofertilizante no crescimento inicial do tomateiro

Abstract

The tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) Is one of the most known and consumed vegetables in the world. It can be used in both raw and processed food in the form of sauces, ketchup, extract, dehydrated tomatoes, etc. In some regions of the Northeast, as the semiarid climate prevails, the water in most of these regions is saline, but the only one available for use in agriculture. Studies on the use of biofertilizers as attenuators of the effect of salinity on plants are promising, since tomato is considered moderately tolerant to salinity. In view of the above, this work aimed to evaluate the tolerance of tomato to different levels of salinity in the irrigation water associated to the use of bovine biofertilizer. For this experiment the cherry tomato cv. Fern of TopSeed Garden. The experimental design was completely randomized with four treatments, in the presence and absence of biofertilizer and four replications. The research was carried out in greenhouse at the Garanhuns Academic Unit - UFRPE. The plants were watered with water of different levels of salinity 0.5; 2.48; 4.88; 8.7 dS m-1, obtained by mixing saline water and urban water supply and the same salinity levels with the addition of 5% biofertilizer. The plants were watered maintaining the field capacity. The characteristics evaluated biweekly were: stem diameter, leaf number, plant height, leaf area, LAI, AFE, RAF, and chlorophyll A and B contents. These characteristics will be evaluated every 15 days. Growth was reduced with increasing salinity of irrigation water. The cherry tomato cv. Samambaia was more tolerant to salinity than the literature suggests. The use of the biofertilizer presented small effects as an attenuator of the saline stress.