Effect of soil conditioners on the chemical attributes of a saline-sodic soil and on the initial growth of the castor bean plant

This work aimed to study the effect of chemical and organic conditioners on the chemical attributes of a saline-sodic soil and on the initial growth of two castor bean cultivars. Two experiments were performed in the green house of the Center of Human and Agrarian Sciences of the Paraiba State University (CCHA-UEPB), Campus IV, Catole do Rocha-PB. In the first experiment, an entirely randomized experimental design with five treatments [(saline - sodic soil without conditioners (SSC), saline - sodic soil + biofertilizer at 10% of the soil volume (SS + B), saline - sodic soil + chalk at 100% of the chalk requirement (SS + C), saline - sodic soil + chalk + biofertilizer (SS + C + B), and non-saline soil (NSL)] and eight replicates was adopted. In the second randomized experiment the treatments were displayed in a 5 x 2 factorial scheme, referring to the five corrective treatments used in the first experiment and the two castor bean plant cultivars (BRS Nordestina and BRS Paraguacu), with four replicates. The application of chalk combined with biofertilizer promoted a better initial development of the castor bean plant in comparison with other recovering treatments. This indicates the corrective effect of chalk on sodicity and of both treatments on the nutrient availability for the plants. The bovine biofertilizer alone did not reduce the sodicity of the sodic - saline soil. Under the evaluated conditions, the BRS Nordestina surpassed the BRS Paraguacu.