DYNA
0012-7353
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
https://doi.org/10.15446/dyna.v86n208.73203

Recibido: 29 de junio de 2018; Revision Received: 15 de noviembre de 2018; Aceptado: 15 de diciembre de 2018

Water consumption of the sunflower crop irrigatedwith saline water

Consumo de agua del cultivo de girasol regado con agua salina

K. Dantas Travassos, aH. Raj Gheyi, bH. Morais Mendes Barros, cF. Loureiro Soares, dC. Uyedal, eN. da Silva Dias, aM. Gurgel Tavares, aR. Chipana-Rivera, f

a Center for Agrarian Sciences, Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido, Mossoró, RN, Brazil. kalinedantas@yahoo.com.br, nildo@ufersa.edu.br, marcelo.tavares@ufersa.edu.br Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido Mossoró RN Brazil
b Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia, UFRB, Cruz das Almas, BA, Brazil. hans@pq.cnpq.br Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia , Cruz das Almas BA Brazil
c Universidade Federal de Campina Grande - UFCG. Campina Grande - PB, Brazil. hmmbbr@yahoo.com.br Universidade Federal de Campina Grande Universidade Federal de Campina Grande - UFCG Campina Grande - PB Brazil
d Instituto Federal Goiano-IFGO, Rio Verde, GO, Brazil. fredalsoares@hotmail.com Instituto Federal Goiano Instituto Federal Goiano-IFGO Rio Verde GO Brazil
e Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciências e Tecnologia do Pernambuco -IFPE- Campus Vitória de Santo Antão, Brazil. claudio.uyeda@vitoria.ifpe.edu.br Instituto Federal de Educação Ciências e Tecnologia do Pernambuco -IFPE- Campus Vitória de Santo Antão Brazil
f Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia. renechipana@yahoo.com Universidad Mayor de San Andrés Facultad de Agronomía Universidad Mayor de San Andrés La Paz Bolivia

 

© The author; licensee Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the water consumption of sunflower cultivars irrigated with saline waters. The experimental design utilized was in randomized blocks of a 2 x 4 factorial arrangement. This was composed of two levels of electrical conductivity (ECw) of irrigation water (N1 - 0.6 and N2 - 3.0 dS m-1 at 25 ºC) and four cultivars of sunflower (C1 - Helio 863, C2 - Embrapa 122-V2000, C3 - Catissol 01 and C4 - Multissol), with three replications, each of them with three plants totaling 72 experimental units. There was a reduction in water consumption of sunflower cultivars irrigated with saline water (N2 - 3.0 dS m-1). The irrigation with saline water resulted in a greater volume of drained water in all sunflower cultivars.

Keywords:

Helianthus annuus L., drainage, electrical conductivity.

Resumen

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo evaluar el consumo de agua de cultivares de girasol regados con aguas salinas. El diseño experimental utilizado fue de bloques al azar con arreglo factorial 2 x 4. Éste se compuso de 2 niveles de conductividad eléctrica (CEa) del agua de riego (N1 - 0,6 y N2 - 3,0 dS m-1 a 25 ºC) y cuatro cultivares de girasol (C1 - Helio 863, C2 - Embrapa 122-V2000, C3 - Catissol 01 y C4 - Multissol), con 3 repeticiones, y cada una de ellas con 3 plantas, totalizando 72 unidades experimentales. Se observó una reducción del consumo de agua de los cultivares de girasol regados con agua salina (N2 - 3,0 dS m-1). El riego con agua salina resultó en un mayor volumen de agua drenado, en todos los cultivares de girasol.

Palabras clave:

Helianthus annuus L., drenaje, conductividad eléctrica.

1. Introduction

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is a crop with wide adaptability to different edaphoclimatic conditions, since yield is little affected by latitude, altitude and photoperiod [1]. This crop is of short cycle with good characteristics and great potential for the agribusiness of Northeast Brazil, due to its social and economic importance.

In arid and semi-arid areas, water is a limiting factor for urban, industrial and agricultural development, therefore the use of saline water is a viable alternative. For this region, the use of practices that allow the production of the sunflower crop using rational and economic techniques is necessary because it is a crop of high nutritional demand [2]. Several investigations have shown that crops respond differently to salinity, some produce economically acceptable yields under high salinity levels, while others are sensitive to relatively low levels [3-6]. This fact is due to the better capacity of osmotic adaptation of some plants, which allows absorption of sufficient water, even in a saline medium.

In this way, the use of saline waters in agriculture can be considered as an important option, due to the scarcity of good quality water. However, there are few studies related to the sunflower to salt stress tolerance [7]. According to [8], the sunflower is moderately sensitive to salinity.

Therefore, the objective was to evaluate the water consumption of sunflower cultivars irrigated with saline waters.

2. Materials and methods

The work was carried out in 2013, in a protected environment of the Agricultural Engineering Academic Unit (UAEAg). This Unit is at the Center of Technology and Natural Resources (CTRN) of the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UFCG), in Campina Grande, PB, Brazil. The geographic coordinates of the place are: 7° 15'18'' S, 35° 52'28'' W, with an average altitude of 550 m.a.s.l.

The experimental design utilized randomized blocks with a factorial arrangement of 2 x 4. These were composed of two levels of salinity with electrical conductivity (ECw) of the irrigation water: S1 - ECw of 0.6 dS m-1 (water supply from the "Water and Sewage Company of Paraíba", Campina Grande, PB - CAGEPA), non-saline water, S2 - ECw of 3.0 dS m-1 (supply water with the addition of commercial NaCl without iodine) and four sunflower cultivars: C1 - Helio 863, C2 - Embrapa 122-V2000, C3 - Catissol 01 and C4 - Multissol. The experiment was performed in triplicate, each with three plants totaling 72 experimental units. The arrangement of the experimental units was triangular in double rows, with 0.60 m between single rows, 0.50 m between plants of each row, and 1.00 m between double rows.

The experiment consisted of 72 plastic pots of 35.5 cm in height, 30 cm of superior diameter and 22.5 cm of inferior diameter, with capacity for 20 L. The pots were perforated in the inferior part for the installation of a tube of ½ inch in diameter, placing approximately 1 kg of gravel No. 1 at the bottom to facilitate drainage. It is important to note that for each pot an external container of 2 L capacity was used to collect the drained water. Each pot was filled with 22 kg of soil and in the upper part (0-10 cm) 40 g of earthworm humus (equivalent to 2%) was incorporated.

The soil was classified asEutrophic Regolithic Neosol, collected in the surface layer from 0-20 cm (horizon A). The soil was shredded, homogenized, sieved with a 5 mm mesh and afterwords dried in the air. After drying, the soil was characterized with respect to its physico-chemical properties (Table 1) in the Irrigation and Salinity Laboratory (LIS) of the Federal University of Campina Grande, PB, Campus I, following the methodologies recommended by [9] and [10].

Ten achenes were planted per pot at a depth of 2 cm, irrigated daily with 100 mL of water corresponding to the respective treatments. Five days after sowing, 100% germination was observed and then thinning was performed leaving three plants per pot. In later thinnings, two plants were left per pot at 15 days after germination (DAG) and one plant at 30 DAG, in which all evaluations were made.

Every 15 days during the study, the collection of the drained water was carried out and with this data the values of the following variables were determined: LF = vd/va (LF = leaching fraction, vd = volume drained and va = volume applied), CAAP = va - vd (CAAP = Cumulative water consumption of the plants, cumulative values of irrigation events, adding to the previous data), Vds = va - vd (Vds = Volume of water drained from the soil, only for the dates evaluated and not accumulated or added to the previous one). For the calculation of the concentration factor (CF = ECd/ECw), the electrical conductivity of the drained water (ECd) of the last measurement was used.

Table 1: Physical and chemical characteristics of the soil used in the study.

Analysis carried out in the Irrigation and Salinity Laboratory of the Center of Technology and Natural Resources (CTRN/UFCG)

Source: The authors

The results were evaluated using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), through the 'F' test at the level of p <0.01 and p <0.05 probability, and in the cases of significance, the Tukey test was performed at 0.05 probability level using the statistical software SISVAR 5.2 [11].

3. Results and discussion

According to the CAAP data, significant effects were verified at a probability of 0.01 for the salinity factor in all intervals evaluated (Table 2), however, for the cultivar factor there was no significant effect at any time of evaluation, as well as for the interaction salinity versus cultivar (S x C).

Table 2: Summary of the ANOVA and mean values of accumulated water consumption by plants (CAAP), of sunflower cultivars irrigated with waters of different electrical conductivities (ECw).

*and ** significant at 0.05 and 0.01 probability, respectively. ns - not significant by the "F" test. DF= degrees of freedom, CV= coefficient of variation, DAG= days after germination.

Source: The authors

A decrease in water consumption by the plants when the non-saline S1 condition (ECw = 0.6 dS m-1) was changed to the S2 salt (ECw = 3.0 dS m-1) can be observed, reducing to 8.12, 23.69, 33.66 and 39.00% at 15, 30, 50 and 70 DAG, respectively (Fig. 1). In general, there was a tendency to reduce water consumption (mainly at the highest level), as the cycle progressed. The osmotic effect of salinity was also observed, since with the increase in ECw, there was a decrease in water consumption by the plant, harming the growth and development of the crop [12]. When studying different sunflower cultivars under conditions of salt stress, the same authors verified that the water consumption decreases with the decrease in osmotic potential of the saline solutions.

Accumulated water consumption of the plants at 15, 30, 50 and 70 days after germination (DAG), irrigated with two saline waters.

Figure 1: Accumulated water consumption of the plants at 15, 30, 50 and 70 days after germination (DAG), irrigated with two saline waters.

Source: The authors * Same letters in the same DAG do not differ from each other at 0.05 probability by the Tukey test.

The results obtained in this study coincide with those found by [13 and 14], who confirm that the increase in the concentration of salts in the soil tends to significantly reduce the water consumption levels of plants.

For the variable volume of water drained in the soil (Table 3), significant effects were observed (p <0.01 and <0.05) in the factor levels of irrigation water salinity, in all stages evaluated except for the 30 DAG. For the cultivar factor and the S x C interaction, there was no significant effect at any time of evaluation.

Table 3: Summary of the ANOVA and means for the volume of water drained in the soil (Vds), under sunflower cultivars irrigated with waters of different electrical conductivities (ECw).

*and ** significant at 0.05 and 0.01 probability, respectively. ns - not significant by the "F" test. DF= degrees of freedom, CV= coefficient of variation, DAG= days after germination.

Source: The authors

Fig. 2 reveals that the decrease was 31.48 and 43.24% at 15 and 50 DAG, respectively, for the volume of water drained (Vds), when there was an increase in ECw.

Volume of water drained in the soil at 15, 30, 50 and 70 DAG, irrigated with two saline waters.

Figure 2: Volume of water drained in the soil at 15, 30, 50 and 70 DAG, irrigated with two saline waters.

Source: The authors * Same letters in the same DAG do not differ from each other at 0.05 probability by the Tukey test.

The results obtained in the present study show that the excess of salts affect the growth of the plants, since there is a decrease in the absorption of water by the crop. According to [15] the excess of salts, accumulated in the root zone, hinders the absorption of water by the plant due to the reduction of water available in the soil.

According to the ANOVA summary for the variable leaching fraction, there was a significant effect at p <0.01 for the factor salinity levels of irrigation water in all stages evaluated, with the exception of 70 DAG (Table 4). For the cultivar factor and the S x C interaction, there was no significant effect.

Table 4: Summary of the ANOVA and means for the leaching fraction (LF) of sunflower cultivars irrigated with waters of different electrical conductivities (ECw).

*and ** significant at 0.05 and 0.01 probability, respectively. ns - not significant by the "F" test. DF= degrees of freedom, CV= coefficient of variation, DAG= days after germination.

Source: The authors

The LF showed declines of 35.56, 28.00, 61.83 and 29.33% in the saline condition (S2) in relation to the non-saline - S1 (0.6 dS m-1), for the periods of 15, 30, 50 and 70 DAG, respectively (Fig. 3).

The salts accumulated in the root zone (when in excess) make it difficult to extract water from the plant. This can be observed at 70 DAG, by analyzing the volume of drained water (Fig. 2) and the LF applied, since even though the leaching fraction is higher in water S2 (Fig. 3), the drained volume was much lower (Fig. 2).

Leaching fraction at 15, 30, 50 and 70 DAG, irrigated with two saline waters.

Figure 3: Leaching fraction at 15, 30, 50 and 70 DAG, irrigated with two saline waters.

Source: The authors * Same letters in the same DAG do not differ from each other at 0.05 probability by the Tukey test.

The results obtained in this work agree with that found by [16, 17 and 18] who, when studying the application effect of the LF in several crops in different environments, observed significant increases in the productivity and growth of the plants when they were irrigated with saline waters, subjected to different fractions of leaching.

Regarding the electrical conductivity of the drainage water (ECd) (Table 5), a significant effect was verified for the factor levels of irrigation water salinity in all periods evaluated, however, for the cultivar factor there was no significant effect at 0.01, as well as for the interaction S x C.

Table 5: Summary of ANOVA and means for the electrical conductivity of drainage water (ECd) of sunflower cultivars irrigated with waters of different electrical conductivities (ECw).

*and ** significant at 0.05 and 0.01 probability, respectively. ns - not significant by the "F" test. DF= degrees of freedom, CV= coefficient of variation, DAG= days after germination.

Source: The authors

The electrical conductivity of the drainage water (ECd) increased with the increase in the electrical conductivity of the irrigation water (Fig. 4). This fact is due in part to the reduction of the osmotic potential of the solution at higher salinity levels. The electrical conductivity of the water drained from the pots irrigated with S2 was 3.67, 3.52, 2.89 and 3.82 times higher compared to when it was irrigated with S1 on 15, 30, 50 and 70 DAG, respectively. The accumulation of salts in the soil depends on the quality of the irrigation water, on the physical properties of the soil and above all on the conditions of drainage and water and salt balance in the subsoil [19]. It can be observed in Figures 1, 2 and 3 that the cultivars have lower consumption, lower drainage and a fraction of leaching greater at 30 and 70 DAG. In those times the plants consumed less, and there was likely difficulty in extracting the water stored in the soil, as a consequence of a reduction in the availability of water for the plants.

Electrical conductivity of water drained at 15, 30, 50 and 70 days after germination (DAG), irrigated with two saline waters.

Figure 4: Electrical conductivity of water drained at 15, 30, 50 and 70 days after germination (DAG), irrigated with two saline waters.

Source: The authors * Same letters in the same DAG do not differ from each other at 0.05 probability by the Tukey test.

Table 6 shows a significant effect at 0.01 probability level for the factor of salinity levels of irrigation water in all periods evaluated for the concentration factor, however, for the cultivar factor no significant effects were found in any evaluation period with the exception of 70 DAG, the same occurred in the S x C interaction.

Table 6: Summary of ANOVA for the concentration factor (CF) of sunflower cultivars irrigated with waters of different electrical conductivities (ECw).

*and ** significant at 0.05 and 0.01 probability, respectively. ns - not significant by the "F" test. DF= degrees of freedom, CV= coefficient of variation, DAG= days after germination.

Source: The authors

The variable concentration factor decreased with the increase in the salinity of the irrigation water from 0.6 to 3.0 dS m-1 (Fig. 5), with reductions of 26.76, 29.54, 42.26, 23.64% for the evaluated periods of 15, 30, 50 and 70 DAG, respectively. This is probably due to the precipitation of a fraction of the salts.

Concentration factor - CF at 15, 30, 50 and 70 days after germination (DAG), irrigated with two saline waters.

Figure 5: Concentration factor - CF at 15, 30, 50 and 70 days after germination (DAG), irrigated with two saline waters.

Source: The authors * Same letters in the same DAG do not differ from each other at 0.05 probability by the Tukey test.

Regarding the average values of the variable CF, with respect to the splitting of its significant interaction between the S x C factors (Table 7), different results were obtained in the Catissol 01 and Multissol cultivars. When increasing the salinity of the irrigation water, mean values of 8.92 and 9.36 were registered for salinity 0.6 dS m-1, respectively.

Table 7: Means of the variable factor of concentration (CF) of sunflower cultivars irrigated with waters of different electrical conductivities (ECw) at 70 DAG.

Means referenced with the same lowercase letter in the column and uppercase in the line, do not differ from each other by the Tukey test at 0.05 probability level.

Source: The authors

According to the data in Table 7, the splitting of the cultivar within the salinity levels studied caused a significant effect on the results, where the cultivars Catissol 01 and Multissol differed statistically from the cultivar Helio 863 using ECw of 0.6 dS m-1. In the case of the ECw water of 3.0 dS m-1, the cultivars Embrapa 122-V2000 and Helio 863 differed statistically from the cultivars Catissol 01 and Multissol.

Conclusions

There was a reduction in water consumption of sunflower cultivars irrigated with saline water.

Irrigation with saline water resulted in a greater volume of drained water in all sunflower cultivars.

With the increase in irrigation water salinity, the value of the LF increased in addition to the electrical conductivity of the drained water.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

To the "National Council for Scientific and Technological Development" (CNPq) for granting a scholarship to the first author, to the Universidade Federal Campina Grande, Campus I, to EMBRAPA Soybean for providing seeds of Embrapa 122-V2000, to the Department of "Seeds, seedlings and matrices / CATI / SAA-SP" for donating the seeds of Catissol 01 and Multissol.

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How to cite: Travassos, K.D.T., Gheyi, H.R., Barros, H.M.M., Soares, F.A.L., Uyedal, C.A., Dias, N.daS., Tavares, M.G. and Chipana-Rivera, R., Water consumption of the sunflower crop watered with saline water.. DYNA, 86(208), pp. 221-226, January - March, 2019
K.D. Travassos, is BSc. in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidade Federal Campina Grande (UFCG), Brazil, is a Sp. in Sustainable Development for the Brazilian Semi-Arid, is a Sp. in the Management of Sugarcane Industry, has a MSc. and a PhD in Agricultural Engineering in the Irrigation and Drainage area from the UFCG, and PhD. at the Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido (UFERSA). She has experience in Agricultural Engineering, with emphasis on irrigation and drainage, working mainly on the following topics: salinity control in agriculture, water management in agriculture, water reuse in agriculture and irrigation. ORCID: /0000-0002-5882-0402
H.R. Gheyi, is a BSc. in Agriculture from the University of Udai Pur (1963), a MSc. degree in Soil Science - Punjab Agricultural University (1965) and a PhD in Agronomic Sciences - Universite Catholique de Louvain (1974). He is currently a retired professor at the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UFCG) and a visiting professor at the Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia (UFRB), and Editor in Chief of Agriambi periodical at the Universidade Federal Campina Grande. He has experience in agricultural engineering, with emphasis on soil and water engineering, working mainly in the following subjects: salinity, irrigation, fertility, soil-water-plant relationship, saline stress, plant tolerance to water deficit, water quality and reuse of water. ORCID: 0000-0002-1066-0315
H.M.M. Barros, is a BSc. in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UCFG) Brazil, is a MSc. and Dr. in Irrigation and Drainage by the UFCG. He has experience in the field of agricultural engineering, with emphasis on soil and water engineering, working mainly in the following subjects: salinity, wastewater, drainage, wrapping and biofertilizers. ORCID: 0000-0001-8950-3023
F.A.L. Soares, is a BSc. in Agronomy from the Federal University of Paraíba (1995) Brazil, a MSc. degree in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidade Federal da Paraíba (2001) Brazil, a PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (2006) Brazil and PhD. at the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Brazil in 2010. He is currently a professor at the Instituto Federal Goiano and Coordinator of the Postgraduate Program at the Instituto Federal Goiano. Has experience in the field of agricultural engineering, with emphasis on water and soil engineering, acting mainly on the following subjects: salt level, macronutrients, micronutrients, dry matter. ORCID: 0000-0002-4152-5087
C.A. Uyeda, is a BSc. in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (2004) Brazil, a MSc. in Agricultural Engineering in the Irrigation and Drainage area from the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Brazil in 2006 and a PhD in Sciences (Concentration Area: Irrigation and Drainage) Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz"-ESALQ/USP, Brazil in 2009. He is currently a professor at the Instituto Federal do Pernambuco Campus Vitória de Santo Antão. He has experience in the field of agricultural engineering, with emphasis on irrigation and drainage, working mainly on the following topics: irrigation, water management in agriculture, saline stress and use of effluents in agriculture. ORCID: 0000-0001-9417-6741
M.G. Tavares, is a BSc. in Agronomy from the Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido, Brazil in 1999, a MSc. in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brazil in 2001 and a Dr. in Natural Resources from the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Brazil in 2006. He is currently a professor at the Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido. He is leader of the group of research “Nucleus of Studies in Hypersaline Environments of the Brazilian Semi-Arid”. He has experience in agricultural engineering, with emphasis on soil and water engineering, working mainly in the following subjects: salinity, melon crop, irrigation, and electrical conductivity. ORCID: 0000-0001-7457-0645
N. da S. Dias, is a BSc. in Agronomy from the Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido, Brazil in 1999, a MSc. in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (2001), a PhD in Agronomy from the Universidade de São Paulo - USP/ESALq, Brazil in 2004 and PhD from the University of California Riverside (UCR) - US Salinity Laboratory (2014). He is currently a professor at the Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido. He has experience in the area of ecological management and conservation of soils and water, with emphasis on social technology of living with the semi-arid. He works mainly on the following subjects: peasant family farming and rural education, water reuse in agriculture, management and control of salinity in agriculture and reuse of biodegradable waste. ORCID: 0000-0002-1276-5444
R. Chipana-Rivera, is a BSc. in Agronomy at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA), Bolivia, MSc. in Irrigation and Drainage at the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil in1995, he did a Sp. in Agricultural Extension for Leaders II, in Japan (1998) and a Dr. in Irrigation and Drainage at the University of São Paulo, Brazil in 2005. He was Rector and Vice-rector in office, Director of Career and Dean of the Faculty of Agronomy at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Bolivia. He is currently professor emeritus and is a corresponding academic member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Fine Arts and Noble Arts of Cordoba, Spain. ORCID: 0000-0001-8676-2660