The flooded rice crop presents low response to fertilization when compared to dry land crops, cultivated in soils with same characteristics of fertility. This is caused, in part, by physical and chemical changes that take place in the soil due to flooding, increasing nutrients availability. Another factor that also can cause the low response of rice crops to fertilization is nutrients supply through the water used in the irrigation. This paper was aimed at quantifing nutrients concentration in the irrigation waters used in the Southern region of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, as well as estimating its possible contribution to rice plant nutrition. Sixty samples of waters were collected from dams, lagoons and rivers, twenty in each source. It was determined N-ammonium, N-nitrate, phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), silicon (Si) content, pH and electrical conductivity (CE). The elements concentration in the irrigation waters decreased in the following order Na > Ca > Si > Fe > Mg > K> Mn > N> Zn >P. The average elements contents were different between irrigation sources: N and Si content in rivers were higher than those in the lagoons; Ca and Mg were more concentrated in lagoons than in dams; Fe was more concentrated in dams and rivers compared to the lagoons. The estimated nutrient contribution by irrigation waters can correspond to all of the calcium, iron, silicon and sodium, and up to 28% of magnesium and 12% of potassium uptake, in average, by rice plants.
dam; lagoon; rivers; Oryza sativa
