Sensibility of cotton crops to mepiquat chloride under saline conditions

Abstract

This work was carried out to evaluate the effect of irrigation water at different salinity levels, and of seed treatment with plant growth regulator, on the development of the cotton plant. The experimental design used was completely randomized, arranged in a 5 x 2 factorial scheme with four replications. The treatments resulted from the combinations of five levels of salinity of the irrigation water (S1-0.5, S2-2.0, S3-3.5, S4-5.0 and 6.5 dS m-1) on seeds, both treated and not treated with growth regulator. The evaluated characteristics were: number of leaves, leaf area, height, dry mass of stems, leaves and vegetative parts, specific leaf area and leaf area ratio. There was an interaction between salinity and seed treatments with mepiquat chloride, but only for leaf area and leaf area ratio. All other characteristics decreased with the increasing salinity of the irrigation water, with greater reductions in leaf area (mean of 65.8%) and dry mass of vegetative parts (64%). Seed treatment with mepiquat chloride affected plant development, independent of salinity.