Abstract

SALGADO VARGAS, Christopher; SANCHEZ-GARCIA, Prometeo; VOLKE-HALLER, Víctor H.  and  COLINAS LEON, María T. B.. Agronomic response to osmotic stress of blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.). Agrociencia [online]. 2018, vol.52, n.2, pp.231-239. ISSN 2521-9766.

Blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) are the fourth most economically important berry in the world. Its consumption responds to the existing interest on the antixodant compounds contained in its fruits and that are benefitial to human health. The production of blueberries is affected by water and salinity stress. Knowning the agronomic responses of this crop to stress helps to design actions for its handling. The aim of this study was to find out the effect of water and salinity stress on the agronomic variables of blueberry plants. As dryness and salinity increase, the growth of plants and the yield of blueberry fruits are reduced. To test this hypothesis, one-year old plants were exposed to water and salinity stress, in a hydroponic system, using tezontle as a substrate and a modified Steiner universal nutrient solution. The following variables were measured: dry matter of the root, stem, leaf and fruit, foliar area, root length, and height (plant), and specific weight, and equatorial and longitudinal diameters (fruit). A randomized complete block design was used and the treatments were: 1) control, with the 100 % of the daily demand of water and with an osmotic potential (PO) of -0.027 MPa; 2) salinity stress, with two PO levels (-0.041 and -0.054 MPa), both with 100 % of the daily demand of water; 3) water stress, with 33 % (H33) and 66 % (H66) of the daily demand of water, with a PO of -0.027 MPa. ANOVA was used to analyze the results and the means were compared using a Tukey test (p≤0.05). There were four repetitions -with 20 experimental units, and three plants per each experimental unit- which were used to analyze the results. There were statistical differences (p≤0.05), as a result of salinity stress in the root length variables and in all variables in the treatments with water stress. Results indicate that blueberry plants are sensitive to water and salinity stress, which have a negative effect on the growth of this species. However, water stress has a greater impact on the growth and production of blueberry plants, unlike salinity stress, which can increase the size of the fruit when applying an osmotic potential equal to -0.41 MPa.

Keywords : water stress; salinity stress; fruit yield; fruit quality; Vaccinium corymbosum L.

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