Dry mass and nutrient content of maize plants under effect of saline waters and biochar

• Autor(a) principal: Costa, Maria Eugênia da
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Miranda, Neyton de Oliveira, Pimenta, Alexandre Santos, Nascimento, Erlen Kaline Ávila, Rodrigues, Ana Paula Medeiros dos Santos, Mendonça Júnior, Antonio Francisco de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Verde de Agroecologia e Desenvolvimento Sustentavel
• Texto Completo: https://www.gvaa.com.br/revista/index.php/RVADS/article/view/6716
• topic: Zea mays L; Soil salinity; Soil management; Charcoal; Zea mays L.; salinidade; manejo do solo; carvão vegetal.

Maize is grown throughout Brazil and used for feeding humans and animals and as a raw material for biofuels and industry. Its yield is impaired by of soil and water degradation, such as salinization, which is more serious in semi-arid regions. Three experiments were carried out in different soils (Acrisol, Cambisol, and Fluvisol) of the state of Rio Grande do Norte with the objective of evaluating biochar effect on dry mass and nutrient content of maize plants irrigated with saline water. The treatments were applied in PVC columns in a greenhouse at the Federal Rural Semiarid University, in Mossoró, according to a completely randomized design in a factorial scheme with four replications. The factors studied were biochar doses (0, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5%) and irrigation water salinity levels (0.57, 2.65, and 4.5 dS m-1). Biochar was obtained from the carbonization of Prosopis juliflora (Sw.). At 40 days after emergence, the shoot dry mass and the plant contents of N, P, K, Ca and Mg were determined. Data were submitted to analysis of variance and regression analysis. Responses of shoot dry mass and maize nutrient contents indicate that biochar can mitigate irrigation water salinity, depending on the dose applied and the soil type.