Enrichment of Atmospheric Co2 in the Growth and Quality of Mini Watermelon Fruit Cv. Smile Irrigated With Salina Water

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of the mini watermelon plant under salinity and different levels of atmospheric CO2 concentration. The experiment was carried out at the National Center of Agricultural Informatics Research (CNPTIA -Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Informática Agropecuária) in two different growth chambers. In the first growth chamber, the mini watermelon plants were irrigated with saline water at two different levels of electrical conductivity (ECw = 1 and 5 dS.m-1) and with an increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration to 800ppm. In the second growth chamber, the mini watermelon plants were irrigated with saline water as previously described and with the atmospheric CO2 concentration at 400ppm.The increase of CO2 concentration provided an increase of both size and mass of the fruits, even in plants under salt stress. Thus, the results demonstrate that the increase of the atmospheric CO2 concentration provides a greater development of fruits of the mini watermelon and it can be used to improve the production even under salt stress caused by irrigation water.