Interaction between salinity and nitrogen sources in the initial development of sunflower crop

Abstract

This work was developed aiming at evaluating the effect of salinity and nitrogen sources on the initial development of the sunflower. The experimental design used was completely randomized, arranged in a factorial scheme 3 x 5, with four replications. The first factor was composed by different nitrogen sources (urea, ammonium sulfate and calcium nitrate), corresponding to an N rate of 100 mg dm^-3; and the second factor was composed by different salinity levels of the irrigation water (0.5; 1.5; 2.5; 3.5 and 4.5 dS m^-1). The following parameters were evaluated: plant height, leaf number, leaf area and total dry mass weight. The vegetative development of the sunflower was influenced by both the salinity of the irrigation water and nitrogen sources. Leaf number, leaf area and total dry mass weight were affected by salinity. Fertilization with ammonium sulfate favors higher development of plants.