Growth of Pepper under Different Concentration of the Solutions Used in the Hydroponic System

Abstract

Water availability is a fundamental condition for sustainable agriculture. However, a satisfactory water condition is not always possible in terms of quantity and quality in certain regions, such as the Brazilian semi-arid region. Thus, the purpose of this extremely important research was to evaluate the growth of cv. All Big with six combinations of wastewater plus saline (WW + SW) and two nutrient solution percentages, in a low-cost hydroponic system. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse at the Department of Agricultural Engineering at Federal University of Campina Grande. A completely randomized experimental design was used, with treatments arranged in a factorial scheme (6 × 2), with 5 replications, being the treatments composed by the combination of six proportions of wastewater with saline water (50%/50%; 60%/40%; 70%/30%; 80%/20%; 90%/10%; 100% of wastewater) and two nutrient solution concentration (80% and 100%), totalizing 60 experimental units. The biometric variables were analyzed at 55 and 96 days after sowing, namely: plant height (PH), stem diameter (SD), leaf number (LN) and leaf area (LA). The interaction between the concentration of the nutrient solution and the ratio of the saline water with wastewater was influenced in the behavior of peppers (cv. All Big) biometric variables. The nutrient solution prepared at 80% of its normal concentration had better performance in the development of plants when mixed with the proportions of water containing more wastewater. The proportion 30% saline water and 70% wastewater (30/70) with concentration of 80% of the nutrient solution obtained better satisfactory results in the studied biometric variables.