engleski

Growth of Melon in Saline and Cadmium Contaminated Media

Neretva valley, located in south-eastern part of Croatia, abounds in arable organic soils while Mediterranean climate enabling plant production almost during the whole year. The main restrictive factor in horticultural production of this area is water quality for irrigation due to increased salinity. Also, some areas are loaded with raised concentrations of heavy metals like cadmium (Cd). In order to determine the influence of saline and Cd-contaminated growing media on Cd uptake and growth of melon, a two years study was conducted. The trial was laid out according to the split-plot design with four blocks. The main plots (Factor A) were randomly assigned to 4 salinity treatments of the nutrient solution (2, 4, 6 and 8 dS m^-1), and the sub-plots (Factor B) randomly assigned to 3 treatments with contaminated substrate (0, 5 and 10 mg Cd kg^-1). A preliminary results with melon confirmed that salinity treatment had negative effect on marketable yield, and in control variant, with 2 dS m^-1, it was almost for 50% higher (3.7 kg plant^-1) than in variant with 8 dS m^-1 (1.9 kg plant^-1). Also, salinity affected on increase of Cd concentration but only in leafs (9.1-17 mg Cd kg^-1) while in peal and pulp tissue had no significant effect. Furthermore, cadmium treatment effected on the increment of Cd content in all investigated vegetative parts, but did not effect on melon yield.

salinity; cadmium; melon; peat

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