The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of irrigation water salinity on the growth of Jatropha curcas L. in greenhouse. The research was carried out during April and October of 2007, in a greenhouse of the Department of Agricultural Engineering of the Natural Resources and Technology Center (CTRN) of Federal University of Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil. The plants were grown in drainage lysimeters (200 L) with 230 kg of non-saline, non-sodic soil adequately fertilized, classified as Gray Argisol eutrophic. The treatments consisted of five levels of electrical conductivity of the irrigation water - CEw (0.6, 1.2, 1.8, 2.4 and 3.0 dS m-1, at 25 ºC). The experimental design was in randomized blocks with 4 replications, each replication represented by the average of 2 plants cultivated in separate lysimeters. Plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves and leaf area were evaluated at 37, 58, 79, 100, 121, 142 and 163 days after sowing (DAS). At 163 DAS, Jatropha irrigated with ECw equal to 3.0 dS m-1 had plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves and leaf area reduced by 9.07, 17.63, 23.41 and 42.58%, respectively.
Jatropha curcas L.; irrigation; electrical conductivity
