TITLE:
Gas Exchange and Growth of Medicinal Plant Subjected to Salinity and Application of Biofertilizers
AUTHORS:
Sergiane Beatriz da Silva Mesquita, José Adriano da Silva, Rafael Santiago da Costa, Móises Wilkson Nunes dos Santos, Claudivan Feitosa de Lacerda, Aiala Vieira Amorim, Antonio Marcos Esmeraldo Bezerra
KEYWORDS:
Medicinal Plants, Salt Stress, Fertilizers
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.5 No.16,
July
31,
2014
ABSTRACT: The objective of
this study was to evaluate the use of biofertilizers and saline waters on gas
exchange and growth of medicinal plant Plectrantus amboinicus. The experiment was conducted in the period
February to May 2013 in a greenhouse. The experimental design was completely
randomized in a 2 × 4 factorial
arrangement, with two levels of salinity of irrigation water (ECw: 0.7 and 3.1
dS m-1) and four levels of bovine liquid
biofertilizer applied to the soil, corresponding to 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% of the
soil volume, with five replications. The experiment lasted 60 days, counted
from the beginning of the treatments. The stomatal conductance (gs), photosynthesis
(A), transpiration (E), intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi) were performed at
the end of the experiment, and the height, number of leaves and stem diameter
at the beginning and at the end. Generally plants subjected to salinity of
irrigation water of 3.1 dS m-1 had the lowest values of gas exchange.
Moreover, the application of biofertilizers and the interaction between this
and salinity did not affect any growth variable studied except the stem length
in the final phase which was influenced by salinity at 5% probability by F
test. The average values of this variable were 57.22 cm and 69.65 cm when
applied water ECw: 0.7 to 3.1 dS m-1, respectively. The application of
biofertilizers can reduce the effect of salinity on the final plant height of Plectrantus amboinicus, especially when
the plants were fertilized with a dose of 20% of biofertilizers.