Growth and biomass beet under irrigation supplementary with water different concentrations saline

ABSTRACT The use of saline water in agriculture is a viable alternative in view of the increased freshwater demand. The objective was to evaluate the growth and biomass of beet under irrigation with water of different saline concentrations,in an experiment conducted under field condition in the campus of the Federal University of Alagoas - Arapiraca. The treatments were five levels of electrical conductivity (S1: 1.0, S2: 2.0, S3: 3.0; S4: 4.0; S5: 5.0 dS m-1). The maximum yield of beets at 27 days after saline treatments was obtained with salinity of 3.0 dS m-1, for the variables plant height (PH), stem diameter (SD), root length (RL), shoot dry matter (SDM), and total dry matter (TDM). At 42 days after application of saline treatments, the variables shoot fresh matter (SFM), root fresh matter (RFM), total fresh matter (TFM), shoot dry matter (SDM), and total dry matter (TDM) increased with increasing salinity. Rain may have influenced the results obtained for the evaluations performed at 42 days after application of saline treatments.