Influence of irrigation with saline water on sunflower

This experiment was made to evaluate the influence of the irrigation with saline water on growth and production of sunflower (hibrido H251), besides monitoring the evolution of some chemical attributes of the soil along its cycle. The experimental design used was the randomized blocks with six treatments and five replications. The treatments consisted of six different irrigation strategies, five of them with use of saline water. The growth evaluations (plant height, stem diameter and leaf number) were made at 20; 40; 60; 80; 100 days after sowing (DAS). The harvest occurred at 100 DAS, then the capitulum diameter was measured and the weight of 1000 achenes, as well as its productivity, were determined. The soil samples were collected on the same dates of the growth evaluations at the layers of 0-0.10; 0.10-0.30; 0.30-0.50 m. The evaluated soil attributes were Na+, EC and pH, besides of the ratios Na+/Ca2+ and Na+/Mg2+. The sunflower appeared to be tolerant to the salinity of the irrigation water, what means it could be cultivated normally and still have a good production even when the water EC reaches up to 3.53 dS m(-1). However, when using a medium/high EC water, it's needed to adopt some practices to control the salinization/sodification of the soil. The tolerance of the sunflower to salinity was not dependent of the development phase. Overall, the chemical attributes of the soil increased and stabilized from the middle of the cycle on.