Formation of ‘Crioula’ guava rootstock under saline water irrigation and nitrogen doses

Abstract

ABSTRACT The objective of this research was to evaluate the growth and formation of fresh and dry weight of ‘Crioula’ guava rootstock irrigated with waters of different saline levels and nitrogen (N) doses, in an experiment conducted in plastic tubes under greenhouse conditions. The experimental design was randomized blocks, in a 5 x 4 factorial scheme with four replicates, and the treatments consisted of five levels of water electrical conductivity - ECw (0.3, 1.1, 1.9, 2.7 and 3.5 dS m-1) and four N doses (70, 100, 130 and 160% of the N dose recommended for the cultivation of guava seedlings, cv. ‘Paluma’). The dose referring to 100% corresponds to 773 mg of N dm-3. The highest growth of ‘Crioula’ guava rootstock was obtained with ECw of 0.3 dS m-1 and fertilization of 541.1 mg N dm-3 of soil; increasing N doses did not reduce the deleterious effect of the salt stress on the growth and phytomass formation of ‘Crioula’ guava rootstock; irrigation with water of up to 1.75 dS m-1, in the production of guava rootstocks, promotes acceptable reduction of 10% in growth and quality of the seedlings.