Salt stress and organic fertilization on the growth and biochemical metabolism of Hylocereus costaricensis (red pitaya) seedlings

Abstract

Red pitaya (Hylocereus costaricensis) is a promising species, with high cultivation potential due to the organoleptic and functional qualities of its fruits. However, irrigation water salinity can affect the crop yield. Therefore, materials rich in organic substances can minimize the damage caused by excess salts in soil and/or water. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of organic matter sources as attenuators of salt stress on the production and biochemical responses of red pitaya seedlings. A completely randomized design in 4 × 5 factorial scheme, with five sources of organic matter (humus, sheep manure, biofertilizer, organic compost and sand + soil) and four salinities (0.6, 2.6, 4.6 and 6.6 dS m-1) with four replicates and two plants per plot was used. The shoot length, root length, cladode diameter, number of cladodes, number of sprotus, root volume, shoot dry mass, root dry mass and total dry mass, root and shoot dry mass ratio, chlorophyll a, b and total, amino acids and soluble sugars were evaluated at 120 days after the treatments began to be applied. Red pitaya is moderately tolerant to salinity (ECw from 4.0 to 6.0 dS m-1). Organic compost and sheep manure attenuate the harmful effects of salinity on red pitaya seedlings. Under salt stress conditions, red pitaya plants increase their levels of proline, amino acids and total sugars.

Effects of Exogenous Melatonin on the Growth and Physiological Characteristics of Ginkgo biloba L. under Salinity Stress Conditions

“…Unfortunately, the environments in which Ginkgo trees thrive are increasingly affected by salinity stress, which can impede their growth [3,4]. Excessive salinity adversely affects plant life, hindering seed germination [5][6][7][8] and overall growth and development [9,10], and disrupting photosynthesis [11]. This results in issues such as compromised dry matter accumulation [12], osmotic stress [13], ionic toxicity [14], and oxidative stress [15,16], potentially leading to metabolic disruptions or plant mortality [17][18][19].…”

Combining silicon, organic matter, and Trichoderma harzianum to mitigate salt stress in forage sorghum

“…Organic matter has several positive effects, such as water retention, soil structure improvement, salts leaching, osmotic potential reduction in the soil solution, and release of Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ions, which replace Na + in the exchange complex (Yousaf et al, 2021). Many studies in the literature report the effectiveness of organic matter in reducing the damage caused by salts in plants (Yarami & Sepaskhah, 2015;Naveed et al, 2020;Oliveira et al, 2022). Our findings corroborate those of Sousa et al (2018) and Sousa, Lacerda, Aguiar, and Praxedes (2017), who found increased growth of sorghum plants under saline stress associated with improvements in soil chemistry and increased soil fertility, promoted by the addition of organic matter.…”

“…While the literature has reported the isolated effects of these salt stress mitigators, further research is needed to assess the efficacy of their interactions (Yin et al, 2016;Gupta et al, 2021b;Oliveira et al, 2022). We hypothesize that combining organic matter and/or T. harzianum with silicon may enhance its mitigating effect, improving forage sorghum performance in saline environments in semiarid regions.…”