Características morfofisiológicas e produtividade de plantas de sorgo submetidas à irrigação deficitária

Abstract

The sustainability of irrigation management implies a conservatory management and environmentally sustainable. The deficit irrigation can be used to obtain high water productivity without, however, cause significant losses in seed yield of culture. This study aims to evaluate the effects of different deficit irrigation management on morphological indices (leaf area, plant height), physiological (photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate), forage production and grain yield, and to identify the deficit irrigation management that has the highest water productivity. The experiment was conducted inside a mobile greenhouse, that preventes the rainfall on the experimental area. The experimental design was completely randomized design with three replications. Five irrigation management treatments using sorghum were tested; the treatments were maintained with 100, 75, 50 and 25% ETc Kc single and 100% ETc Kc dual. It was also evaluated the daily water storage and accumulated water losses of the soil profile, and weekly morphological characteristics of sorghum (plant height and leaf area index). Some physiological characteristics of the sorghum plants were evaluated, such as: photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, intrinsic efficiency of water use and total plant photosynthesis. Besides, it was also measured the sorghum grain yield, water productivity and irrigation water productivity. A 25% reduction in water application caused a reduction of 6.5 cm (7%) in the sorghum plant height and 5% in leaf area index of plants. A 75% reduction in the application of irrigation water deficit, reducing from 100 to 25% ETc Kc single reduced 0.675 mol H2O m-2 s-1 in stomatal conductance and 43.50 mol CO2 m-1s-1 in photosynthetic rate,. The reduction in the replacement of ETc also showed linear reduction in photosynthesis total sorghum plants. A 25% reduction in the application of water caused a reduction of 7414, 2169 e 1113 kg ha-1 in the green dry matter, dry matter production and grain yield, respectively. The maximum technical efficiency of water productivity was observed with the replacement of 64% ETc Kc single, and the irrigation water productivity and economic return reduced with the increased of 25 to 100% ETc Kc single. The irrigation management with 100% ETc Kc dual parameterized by FAO, provided a reduction in water application of 120 mm compared to irrigation management with 100% ETc Kc single. The morphological characteristics, green and dry mass yield and grain yield of sorghum plants were similar between these two irrigation managements. Plants maintained at 100% ETc Kc dual had better rates for water productivity and irrigation water productivity compared to those obtained with the irrigation treatment 100% ETc Kc single.