Effect of Preharvest Application of Silicon and Saline Water on Postharvest Quality of Beet (Beta vulgaris L.)

Beet is one of the vegetables richest in nutrient (bioactive compounds, folic acid and potassium). However, there are few studies on postharvest quality from the crop under irrigation conditions with saline waters, and because of that, the objective of this study was to evaluate effect of saline waters and silicon application in the preharvest on physicochemical quality of the beet. Two experiments were conducted with the objective of evaluating two forms of silicon application: via foliar (experiment 1) and via soil (experiment 2) about its influence in mitigating salt stress. In both experiments was adopted a randomized design with blocks in a 5 x 5 factorial, referring to five levels of electrical conductivity of the irrigation water (ECw): (0.5, 1.3, 3.25, 5.2 and 6.0 dS m-1) five doses of silicon (0.00; 2.64; 9.08; 15.52 and 18.16 mL L-1), they were combined according to the experimental matrix Central composite of Box totaling 10 treatments, with four replicates and three plants per plot. After harvesting, 70 days after transplanting, the following characteristics were evaluated: bulb dry mass, pH, titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS), TSS/TA ratio and ash. There was a significant effect for the salinity x silicon (Si) interaction applied via soil to the dry matter mass and titratable acidity. The electrical conductivities of irrigation water (ECw) and Si doses via leaf and soil influenced significantly for analyzed variables, except pH, total soluble solids, TSS/TA ratio, ash and titratable acidity, which were not influenced by ECw and nor by the doses of Si via soil and foliage. Irrigation with water of 6.0 dS m-1 promotes better quality beet tuber. The fertilization on preharvest with silicon via soil or foliage improved postharvest quality of beet.