1950 AJCS 12(12):1950-1956 (2018) ISSN:1835-2707 doi: 10.21475/ajcs.18.12.12.p1324 Behavior of neem seedlings (Azadirachta indica) irrigated with saline water in the soil with biofertilizer and drainage Francisco de Oliveira Mesquita 1 , Rafael Oliveira Batista* 2 , Lourival Ferreira Cavalcante 3 , Fabrícia Gratyelli Bezerra Costa 4 , Antônio Gustavo de Luna Souto 3 , Daniela da Costa Leite Coelho 2 , Ketson Bruno da Silva 2 , Francisco Xavier de Oliveira Filho 2 1 Federal University of Cariri, Department of Agronomy, 63.048-080, Crato city, Ceará State, Brazil 2 Rural Federal University of Semi-arid, Department of Engineering and Environmental Sciences, 59.625-900, Mossoró city, Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil 3 Federal University of Paraíba, Department of Soil and Rural Engineering, 58.397-900, Areia city, Paraíba State, Brazil 4 Rural Federal University of Semi-arid, Department of Agricultural Science and Forestry Science, 59.625-900, Mossoró city, Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil *Corresponding author: rafaelbatista@ufersa.edu.br Abstract We studied the behavior for neem seedlings subjected to irrigation water salinity and bovine biofertilizer and soil drainage. An experiment was carried during the period of January to June/2016 in greenhouse with plants grown in pots. The experimental design was a randomized block with factorial scheme 5×2×2 and four repetitions. The factors consisted of application of the five levels of irrigation water salinity: 0.5 (control treatment), 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6.0 dS m -1 , in soil without and with bovine biofertilizer (2), tested in the absence and presence (2) of drainage of soil. The variables analyzed were the electrical conductivity of saturated extract, emergency velocity index, plants height, stem diameter, number of leaves, dry weight of shoot, root and total. The 30-day- old plants were irrigated daily with saline waters (treatments) in volumes sufficient to maintain the soil with water content at level of field capacity. Neem seedlings were negatively affected by increased salinity of irrigation water. Since the growth is affected from the electrical conductivity of 0.5 dS m -1 ; therefore, we conclude that the species is considered to be sensitive to salinity. The results showed that application of bovine biofertilizer and soil drainage are agricultural practices that can minimize the effects of the salts the neem seedlings but does not eliminate it. Keywords: Azadirachta indica, biofertilization, salinization. Abbreviations: Fig_Figure; DAS_Days after sowing; EC iw _Electrical conductivity of irrigation water; PET_Thermoplastic polymer; pH_Hydrogenation power; Ca 2+ _Calcium; Mg 2+ _Magnesium; Na + _Sodium; K + _ Potassium; Cl-_Chlorine; HCO 3 - _Bicarbonate; SO 4 2- = Sulfate; DAP_days after planting; R 2 _ coefficient of determination; TDB_Total dry biomass; LDB_leaves dry biomass; SDB_stem dry biomass, RDB_roots dry biomass. Introduction The growing need to increase food production constitutes a serious scientific and technological challenge which has required expansion of the cultivated areas. However, this search not only takes into account the incorporation of agricultural areas suitable for cultivation of neem, but also harnesses the degraded areas especially in semiarid regions, salt affected soils, and waters with inferior quality, such as those with high salinity (Bernard et al., 2010; Pandey et al., 2017; Liang et al., 2018). For production of good quality neem seedling in semiarid regions, efficient and low cost methodologies should be adopted. It has been reported that neem is moderately tolerant to salinity during the first year but may have their growth inhibited by salinity and sodicity and other limitations such as water shortage in terms of quantity and quality (Martins et al., 2010; Freire et al., 2010; Pedrotti et al., 2015; Rajput et al., 2018). According to Yang et al. (2011), Souza et al. (2017) and Neves et al. (2018) it is difficult to grow or increase the productivity of many crops in periods of drought and high temperatures especially under high salt conditions. In this sense, one of the methods to minimize the deleterious effects of salinity is through using soluble salts leaching present in the root zone. On the other hand, the major concern with the water used in agricultural soils is the degradation of soils by the excess of salts present in irrigation water. Therefore, some alternative methods have been employed such as organic farming, among them, the bovine biofertilizer, supplied in liquid form to the soil (Mesquita et al., 2015; Sá et al., 2015; Byrt et al., 2018).