Gas exchange and growth of peanut crop subjected to saline and water stress

Abstract

Peanut crops are of great economic interest because their seeds are used as an important source of vegetable protein and edible oil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the physiological indices and growth of peanut crops subjected to saline and water stress. The experiment was conducted in Auroras, Redenção, Ceará, Brazil using a completely randomized split plot statistical design. The plots were composed of irrigation water treatments with varying levels of electrical conductivity - ECw (1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 dS m-1), while the subplots were formed by the water regimes of 50% and 100% crop evapotranspiration. Plant height, leaf number, shoot dry matter, relative chlorophyll level, transpiration, and leaf temperature were affected by salt stress. The water regime of 100% ETc provided better performance for the variables stem diameter, leaf number, and shoot dry mass of peanuts.

Estresse salino em genótipos de amendoim na fase inicial

“…The decrease in plant height in the treatment with water of higher conductivity (Figure 3A) is related to the lower absorption of water and nutrients by the roots in salt conditions because of the unbalance of the osmotic potential, which causes water and nutritional imbalance (ASHRAF et al 2017, SOUSA et al 2021. A similar trend has also been observed by BARBOSA et al (2022), when reporting a reduction in plant height from 2.2 dS m -1 , and by SILVA et al ( 2022) with an average decrease of 29% in height for water of 5.0 dS m -1 , both studies working with peanut crops.…”