Looking forward to reduce environmental impacts resulting from desalinization of brackish water in the region of the crystalline rocks in the semi-arid Brazil, saltbush (Atriplex nummularia) was cultivated during one year with four different volumes of aquiculture effluent generated from an intensive tilapia (Oreochromis sp) raising system, with a mean salinity of 8.29 dS m-1, in an experimental field of Embrapa Semi-Arid. A completely randomized block design, with four treatments and three replications was used. The treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4 corresponded, respectively, to the weekly volumes of irrigation of 75, 150, 225 and 300 L of water per plant. The mean soil salinity of the cropped area, in the depth of 0 - 90 cm, was 0.40 dS m-1 before starting the irrigation process. After the plants were harvested, the mean soil salinity in the profiles was 8.02, 6.09, 4.97, and 4.60 dS m-1 for treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. The saltbush dry matter yields were 9.75, 12.26, 14.49 and 13.81 t ha-1 for treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. The highest dry matter production per unit of applied water was for treatment T1, which yielded 4.84 g L-1 of effluent. The same treatment had the best relation input/output of salt by the saltbush, removing 13.84% of the total salt incorporated into the soil.
saltbush; salinity; irrigation
