Fruit Yield and Nutritional Characteristics of Sweet Pepper Grown Under Salt Stress in Hydroponic System

Abstract

Irrigation with brackish water is common in the semiarid region of the Brazilian Northeast, potentiating the process of salinization of the soil in these areas. The hydroponic system stands out as an important strategy for crop management in semiarid regions, since crops show greater tolerance to the salt stress under hydroponic conditions, which minimize the effects of soil salinization. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of salt stress on the growth, fruit yield and mineral nutrition of sweet pepper in hydroponic system, using brackish water and coconut fiber substrate. The experiment was conducted in Recife, State of Pernambuco, Brazil (8°3'15''S, 34°52'53''W). A randomized block experimental design in a 5x2 factorial arrangement with five replications was used, consisting of five water salinity levels of the nutrient solution (2.0; 3.5; 4.5; 5.5 and 6.5 dS m-1) and two sweet pepper cultivars (Bruno and Rubia). The increasing salinity level of the nutrient solution decreased the fruit yield of the cultivars evaluated, reduced the potassium, phosphorus and sulfur, and increased the sodium and chlorine contents in the leaf tissues. The Ca contents of the cultivar Bruno decreased with increasing salinity, and increased in the cultivar Rubia. The cultivar Rubia stood out with the highest fruit yield and ionic selectivity, accumulating high amounts of potassium and calcium and maintaining low Na and Cl contents. The fruit yield of the cultivar Rubia (39.9 t ha-1) grown under solution with electrical conductivity of up to 3.5 dS m-1, denotes the potential viability of growing this cultivar under hydroponic conditions.

Calcium and boron foliar application in the production and quality of sweet pepper seeds

“…In peppers, calcium is the third most accumulated nutrient by plants (Lima et al, 2018), and its deficiency can lead to fruit apical rot. Boron is the micronutrient most accumulated by pepper fruits and, in adequate amounts, it can favor the development and production of fruits and its deficiency can lead to floral abortion and poor seed formation (Mello et al, 2002).…”

Productivity and photosynthetic pigments in bell pepper plants grown in soil with biofertilizer and protected against water loss

“…In the plants grown in the ground with side coating of grooves and mulch, the biofertilizer promoted a reduction in the level of Chl t from 1.0 to 0.79 mg g -1 FM. This decrease may be due to the high electrical conductivity of the enriched biofertilizer (Table 4), which provides high levels of Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + and Cl - (Cavalcante et al, 2019;Oliveira et al, 2014;Sediyama et al, 2014), and the largest buildup of moisture, provided by the use of all of these techniques together, could have caused a nutritional imbalance, resulting in the absorption of some nutrients in excess, such as Na + and Cl -, which are toxic to plants (Lima et al, 2018). A similar situation was recorded by Corrêa et al (2009), who concluded that high input rates of cow and poultry manure inhibit the production of chlorophyll despite raising the levels of chlorophyll in plants.…”

Water consumption and water use efficiency of ‘Biquinho’ pepper in hydroponic cultivation with brackish water

“…Responsibility for more sustainable and rational agriculture should not be seen as additional pressure on production costs but as an economic criterion for agricultural production and preservation of the system. Some studies recently conducted worldwide have investigated efforts to evaluate the effects of salinity under hydroponic conditions, with emphasis on aspects of production and water consumption (ATZORI et al, 2019;CAPARROTTA et al, 2019;MODESTO et al, 2019;LIMA et al, 2018;SILVA et al, 2020). This evidence the direction of research to update the expectations of commercial production with the use of brackish water, based on the premise that, when the production systems evolve, the responses of plants to salinity tend to be positively altered.…”