Saline stress in maize plants: I - Anionic macronutrients and their relationships with chloride

Abstract Aiming at the evaluation of the soil salinity effects upon the mineral nutrition of the maize (UFVM 100 cv.), an experiment was conducted in drainage lysimeters, under greenhouse conditions. A completely randomized design was used with seven treatments: one irrigated with fresh water without leaching and six irrigated with saline water of 1.2 dS m-1 with leaching fractions of 40, 30, 20, 15, 10 and 5% of the irrigation depth applied, and three replicaticns. The effects of the soil salinity upon the mineral nutrition of the maize crop were evaluated, by determining the leaf content of the anionic macronutrients and their relationships with Cl at 120 days after planting, at the phenological phase corresponding to the physiological maturation. For the evaluated variety, the increase in the soil salinity elevated the leaf contents of chloride and the relations Cl/N, Cl/P and Cl/S, followed by reduction in the contents of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur.