Silicon as mitigator of salt stress in mango tree seedlings

Abstract

The use of saline water dramatically reduces the growth and development of plants. Thus, salt stress mitigation can be important to allow the use of this water in the agriculture. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of silicon as attenuators of effects caused by salt stress on seedlings of “Espada” mango tree variety. An experiment was conducted under completely randomized experimental design in a factorial scheme (5 x 2). The factors studied consisted of silicon concentrations (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mg L-1) and irrigation with low water (0.8 dS m-1) and high (6 dS m-1) electrical conductivity and the growth of mango tree seedlings was assessed 70 days after sowing (DAS) by the height, number of leaves, stem diameter, dry matter of root, aerial part and total, dry matter content, Dickson Quality Index and Index of tolerance to salinity. The application of silicon via leaf mitigates the deleterious effects of salt stress in mango seedlings. Silicon 200 mg L-1 promotes higher growth, dry matter accumulation and 100 mg L-1 concentration provides higher salt tolerance in mango seedlings. Electrical conductivity in the irrigation water at 6 dS m-1 reduce the growth and quality the of mango tree seedlings