Gherkin (Cucumis anguria) is an important crop in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, and its production is predominantly from spontaneously growing plants. For this reason, little research is done on the crop, especially regarding the effect of salinity. This study was conducted at the Federal Rural University of the Semiarid (UFERSA) in Mossoró, RN, to evaluate the effect of different salinity levels of irrigation water on the development and yield of gherkin. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design, with four treatments (salinity levels of irrigation water: S1-0.5, S2-2.0, S3-3.5 and S4-5.0 dS m-1). There were five harvests of fruits and at the end of the experiment the plants were collected and analyzed for major development parameters and yield. We evaluated the following variables: length of the main branch, stem diameter, number of leaves, leaf area, dry mass of leaves, stems, fruits and total fruit number, average fruit weight and yield. The results showed that gherkin is sensitive to salinity. Significant responses were found for all variables that reduced with increasing salinity.
Cucumis anguria L.; saline stress; salt tolerance
