A study was carried out under greenhouse conditions at the experimental area of the Department of Rural Engineering of "Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz-USP", Piracicaba, São Paulo state, Brazil, aiming to evaluate the performance of ceramic cup samplers in fertigation management and soil salinity control in a plot cultivated with netmelon. The treatments consisted of combination of two factors: six levels of initial soil salinity (S1 = 1.0, S2 = 2.0, S3 = 3.0, S4 = 4.0, S5 = 5.0 and S6 = 6.0 dS m-1) and two fertigation management control: the traditional and the control of electrical conductivity of soil solution. The initial soil salinity value was obtained by applying saline solutions of fertilizer salts using an artificial soil salinization curve previously obtained in laboratory. Results showed that the solution extractors allow determination of the ionic concentration in soil solution with satisfactory accuracy. The soil salinity increased in time and higher salinity levels were observed near the soil surface and below the drippers. The differences in water consumption caused by soil salinity were more evident with fertigation management control, adjusting to a quadratic model.
electrical conductivity; plant nutrition; Cucumis melo L
