BELL PEPPER CULTIVATION WITH BRINE FROM BRACKISH WATER DESALINATION

• Autor(a) principal: Arruda, Carlos Eduardo de Moura
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Dias, Nildo da Silva, Blanco, Flávio Favaro, Sousa Neto, Osvaldo Nogueira de, Ferreira Neto, Miguel
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Caatinga
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufersa.edu.br/caatinga/article/view/1816
• topic: Capsicum annuum L. Hidroponics. Environmental Impact. Salt Tolerance.

In desalination process, besides the potable water, highly salty and pollutant water (brine) is generated, which can be used for producing crops since it is carefully monitored. In order to test this hypothesis, bell pepper plants, cv. ‘Margarita’, were grown in coconut fiber substrate under greenhouse and were irrigated with nutrient solutions prepared with tap water, brine from desalination plant, and its dilution with tap water at 75, 50 and 25%, giving a range of electrical conductivities of the nutrient solution (ECs) of 2.6, 3.1, 6.6, 10.0 and 12.2 dS m-1 after the dilutions and fertilizers addition. Completely randomized blocks design was used with 5 treatments (salinity levels of the nutrient solutions) and six replications. Leaf area, number of marketable fruit, total and marketable yield were reduced with ECs increase. The marketable yield of bell pepper ‘Margarita’ reduced 6.3% for each unitary increase of ECs above 2.6 dS m-1 (threshold salinity) and the results suggest that in hydroponic system, the reduction of marketable yield with increasing ECs is promoted by reduction of the number of fruits per plant instead of a reduction of fruit mean weight.