Egas José Armando et al./ Elixir Agriculture 116 (2018) 50086-50090 50086 Introduction Rocket (Eruca sativa L.), also called Persian mustard or mustard cress, is an annual herbaceous, small herbaceous vegetable belonging to the Brassicaceae family, mainly consumed in salads, which is rich in vitamin C and A, potassium, sulfur, iron, calcium and alpha-linolenic acid (BORGES et al., 2014). It is a fast growing vegetable with short cycle, originated from southern Europe and western Asia. The tender leaves are very appreciated in the form of salad, mainly in the Center-South region of Brazil (SALLES et al., 2017). Several adverse environmental factors may be detrimental to the cultivation of this crop. In addition, salinity is one of the abiotic stresses limitation that most affect the yield of this crop, which may interfere with growth and cause changes in the quality of the plant product, due to differences in concentration and ionic composition of the saline farming environments. On the other hand, the rocket under moderate salt stress limits its growth, development and productivity, however, in extreme cases the salinity can lead to the plant to death (SOBHANIAN et al., 2011). The usage of saline water in agriculture, must be done in rational and economic viable agronomic management, starting with the selection of the variety up to the irrigation water management (doses, irrigation intervals and irrigation water needs of the crop) and the quality of its products, without providing minimum risks of salinization to soils (MEDEIROS et al., 2007). According to Nawaz et al. (2014) simultaneous stresses seriously compromise all metabolisms of the plant, and growth is severely impaired in the presence of the salinity factor. Thus, forms of coexistence have been studied, and the cultivation of tolerant species is the most outstanding and recommended by professionals in soils degraded by the effect of salinization (PENELLA et al., 2016). According to Kaiser et al. (2016), salinity has a major impact on agricultural production worldwide, making it more difficult in the arid and semi-arid regions, with long periods of drought, high rates of evaporation and large occurrences of flat soils. In these regions, generally, surface water is scarce, making groundwater essential for agriculture. Saline stress subjects the plants to adverse conditions, where plants promote the reduction of energy expenditure and consequently, as an adaptive strategy, plants have their growth influenced negatively (LIU & JIANG, 2015). For Silva et al. (2011) water quality is one of the factors that has a negative effect on the development of crops and affect production, since water is constituent of plant tissues, even making up more than 90% of some plants. Thus, in this way the use of inferior quality water in agriculture, demands rational management, through economically viable alternatives, so that the crop develops to the expected productivity. In the literature, there are few studies on the behalf of rocket to different sources and levels of salinity, especially when tested under greenhouse conditions, so this study aimed to evaluate the effect of different sources and levels of salinity in the rocket crop evaluating its agronomic attributes. Material and Methods The trial was conducted in a greenhouse located at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the Federal University of Grande Dourados, in July and August 2017. The average altitude of the site is 446 m, with a latitude of 22º 11 '45' 'S and longitude 54º 55 '18' 'W. The climate of the region, according to the classification of Köppen (1948), is of the type Cwa (wet mesothermic), with rainy summer and dry winter and with average annual temperature of 22ºC. To conduct the trial we used Premium seeds variety with 85% germination power and 99% purity, which were submitted to stress with two sources of salinity sodium chloride (NaCl) and potassium chloride (KCl) and six levels of salinity 0; 0.5; 2.0; 3.5; 5.0 and 6.5 dS m-1, corresponding to 0; 0.311; 0.641; 1,282, 1,922 and 2,136 g /l for NaCl and 0; 0.384; 0.718; 1.437; 2,156 and 2,395g/l for KCl. Although the conductivities evaluated are the same, the concentrations to obtain them are different because the sources NaCl and KCl have different molar masses, therefore, the amount of salt used for KCl is higher than NaCl for the same electrical conductivity. Tele: +5567999052759 E-mail address: earmando24@gmail.com © 2018 Elixir All rights reserved ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received: 29 January 2018; Received in revised form: 28 February 2018; Accepted: 10 March 2018; Keywords Eruca sativaL., Salinity, Agronomic Attributes. Sources and Levels of Salinity in the Rocket Crop Egas José Armando, Jorge Wilson Cortez and Sálvio Napoleão Arcoverde Federal University Grandes Dourados (UFGD), Itaúm Km 12, Dourados - Brazil. 1. M ABSTRACT Understanding the response of the rocket crop to different source and salinity levels allows determining the type and level of salt that can be tolerable even where this factor is limiting. We evaluated the effect of different sources and levels of salinity sodium chloride (NaCl) and potassium chloride (KCl) in rocket. The trial was conducted in a greenhouse, throughout completely randomized design in a 2x6x11 factorial scheme, two salt sources (NaCl and KCl), six salinity levels (0, 0.5; 2.0, 3.5, 5.0 and 6.5 dS m-1) and eleven replications. KCl exceeded the NaCl and both did not affect the leaves immersion. © 2018 Elixir All rights reserved. Elixir Agriculture 116 (2018) 50086-50090 Agriculture Available online at www.elixirpublishers.com (Elixir International Journal)