Morphophysiology of peppermint irrigated with salt water and bovine biofertilizer

Peppermint is a medicinal plant grown worldwide, but it has not been extensively studied, especially the use of saline water for its cultivation. In this sense, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of saline waters on peppermint cultivation under the application of bovine biofertilizer. The experiment was carried out from September 2015 to December 2015 in a greenhouse of the Center of Human and Agrarian Sciences of the State University of Paraiba (UEPB) in the municipality of Catole do Rocha-PB, Brazil. The experimental design was completely randomized, in a factorial scheme of 5 × 2, with 8 replicates. The treatments consisted of electric conductivity combined with irrigation water (ECw) of 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 dS m-1 in the presence and absence of bovine biofertilizer. The increase in electrical conductivity of the irrigation water levels from 1 dS m-1 reduced the growth, development and production of peppermint biomass. Peppermint plants that received bovine biofertilizer had superior results in growth and biomass production. The application of bovine biofertilizer attenuates the effects of salty peppermint. The growth and production of peppermint biomass increased when the plants are irrigated with low salinity water (1 dS m-1) using bovine biofertilizer. Key words: Mentha piperita L., electrical conductivity, mitigating the salt stress.