Lettuce is an important vegetable crop in the Northeast of Brazil cultivated under irrigated conditions using water of variable quality; one of the characteristics of this region is spatial and temporal variation in quality of water resources. In spite of this, research related to effects of salinity on the seedling formation and its posterior reflex on production is limited. In the present study, the effects of salinity of irrigation water (ECw: 0.3, 1.0, 1.7, 2.4 and 3.1 dS m-1) on growth response of lettuce 'Elba' using two types of seedlings produced with ECw of 0.3 and 3.1 dS m-1 were evaluated in a greenhouse. The studied factors had no interactive effect. Root/shoot ratio and absolute growth rate were affected by salinity although relative growth rate was not affected directly. The seedlings produced with ECw of 3.1 dS m-1 had lower growth rates at the beginning but recovered gradually during the growth cycle. In the last evaluation, the absolute and relative growth rates of these plants were, respectively, equal and superior to that of plants produced with water of low salinity. Increasing water salinity decreased evapotranspiration. The Na+/(Ca2++Mg2+) and Na+/K+ ratios in leaf increased linearly with the salinity but plants maintained favorable ionic balance. The decrease in lettuce yield was 6.1 and 9.0% per unit increase in electrical conductivity of the saturation extract of soil and of irrigation water above 0.3 and 1.73 dS m-1, respectively.
Lactuca sativa L.; electrical conductivity; ionic balance
