Growth and nutrition of peanut crop subjected to saline stress and organomineral fertilization1

Abstract

The peanut crop, owing to its microbiological and nutritional aspects, is of great economic importance for agriculture and the food industry. However, salt stress can negatively affect nutrient uptake and plant growth. The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth and foliar nutrient concentrations of peanut plants subjected to irrigation with saline water and different forms of organomineral fertilization. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse in a completely randomized design (5 × 2 factorial scheme) with five forms of fertilization (F1 = 100% mineral; F2 = 100% bovine biofertilizer; F3 = 100% vegetal ash; F4 = 50% mineral + 50% bovine biofertilizer; and F5 = 50% mineral + 50% vegetal ash), two levels of electrical conductivity of the irrigation water (ECw) (1.0 and 5.0 dS m-1), and five replicates. Salt stress inhibited plant growth and the number of leaves, but increased the average stem diameter with the use of 100% bovine biofertilizer and higher salinity water. When ECw of 5.0 dS m-1 was used along with the bovine biofertilizer (100%), the P concentration in plants increased. The K concentration was reduced in plants fertilized with bovine biofertilizer (100%) and vegetal ash (100%), while Mg concertation was reduced in plants fertilized with bovine biofertilizer (100%) or mineral fertilizer (50%) + bovine biofertilizer (50%) with irrigation water of 5.0 dS m-1.