CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Sprinkler irrigation with saline waters affects soybean growth and salts entering the plant through the leaves magnify soybeans low tolerance to salinity and limit its cropping in such conditions. The effect is more severe for the reproductive component of grain yield than for vegetative components. When comparing the result from our study with those reported in literature it can be seen that soybean cultivars show a differential ability to exclude toxic ions from leaves to roots. In this work soybean accumulated Na+ and Cl- in leaves, which explains the high impact that sprinkler irrigation has on grain yield. The relationship found between either leaf Cl- concentration or K+/Na+ ratio (both in early crop growth stages) and grain yield may be used as a diagnostic tool for estimating soybean yield loss when salts entering via leaves are the main stress factor.