Production of Flowers of Ornamental Sunflower Irrigated With Wastewater From Fish Culture

The unregulated use and increased demand in face of the demographic and economic growth of society caused reduction in the availability of water resources in quantity and quality. In this context, this work was carried out to verify the possibility of producing ornamental sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) fertirrigated with wastewater from fish culture and its mixtures with tap water. Two experiments were conducted in 2017 in a greenhouse at Federal Rural do University of the Semiarid, in Mossoró, RN, Brazil, according to a completely randomized design with 12 replicates. The treatments consisted of dilutions of the fish's wastewater in tap water (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%). Determinations of plant biomass and flower characteristics were performed. The statistical analysis of the data consisted of analysis of variance by the F test and regression analysis. The biomass of ornamental sunflower showed significant effect of the fish’s effluent dilutions, but, in general, characteristics of flowers were not influenced. The higher values of the variables of the ornamental sunflower evaluated in the first experiment, which received fertilization, indicate that the effluent did not supply the nutritional needs of the plants. The irrigation of the ornamental sunflower can be carried out with effluent from fish farming when there is another source of nutrients for the crop to produce flowers with satisfactory characteristics.