Water relationships and yield of peanut crop irrigated with saline waters

Abstract The presence of sodium in irrigation water affects plant growth due to modifications in ionic balance, water potential, mineral nutrition, photosynthetic efficiency and carbon allocation. The study was carried out under greenhouse conditions to verify the effects of irrigation water salinity on behavior of peanut crop. Five levels of irrigation water salinity in terms of electrical conductivity were tested (0.4; 1.5; 3.0; 4.5 and 6.0 dS m-1, at 25 °C) in two cultivars, BR-1 and L-7. The study was conducted in a 5x2 completely randomized factorial design, with six replications. The water content, consumption and water use efficiency were evaluated as well as the number of fruits and phytomass that, in general, decreased with increasing water salinity. In the highest salinity level, the number of fruits was reduced by 11.36%; fruit, seed and 10 seed phytomass decreased by 16.68, 17.87 and 36.48%, respectively.