The scarce availability of good quality water for irrigation in semi-arid regions leads to the reuse of waters, such as reject brine. Associated with this, the use of alternatives, such as hydroponic cultivation in substrates suitable for the development of profitable crops, such as watermelon, a species considered moderately sensitive to salinity, will allow new opportunities for communities assisted by desalination plants. An experiment was conducted in a plastic greenhouse to evaluate the growth, physiological responses, yield, and fruit quality of ‘Sugar Baby’ mini-watermelon cultivated in a hydroponic system with reject brine from desalination plants and different substrates. The experimental design was randomized blocks, with treatments arranged in a 5 × 4 factorial scheme, corresponding to five mixtures of reject brine (9.50 dS m⁻¹) and tap water (0.54 dS m⁻¹) applied to mini-watermelon plants, in an open hydroponic system, with four types of substrate and four replicates, with two plants per plot. Mini-watermelon plants grown in coconut fiber substrate showed the best growth and production. On the other hand, washed sand was the substrate that most hampered the development of plants in all mixtures. The use of reject brine to prepare the nutrient solution reduced the growth and production of mini-watermelon, mainly in mixtures with salinity above 4.00 dS m⁻¹. The changes in gas exchange caused by salt stress in mini-watermelon were of stomatal nature. Mini-watermelon has high energy stability under conditions of salt stress.

在半干旱地区，用于灌溉的优质水稀缺导致水的再利用，例如废水。与此相关的是，使用替代品，例如在适合开发盈利作物的基质中进行水培种植，例如西瓜，一种被认为对盐度中等敏感的物种，将为由海水淡化植物辅助的社区提供新的机会。在塑料温室中进行了一项实验，以评估在使用来自海水淡化厂的废盐水和不同基质的水培系统中培育的“Sugar Baby”迷你西瓜的生长、生理反应、产量和果实品质。实验设计是随机区组，处理以 5 × 4 因子方案排列，对应于五种废弃盐水混合物 (9.50 dS m^-1 ) 和自来水 (0.54 dS m ^-1 ) 在开放式水培系统中应用于迷你西瓜植物，具有四种类型的基质和四个重复，每块地有两株植物。在椰子纤维基质中生长的迷你西瓜植物表现出最好的生长和产量。另一方面，洗过的沙子是所有混合物中最阻碍植物发育的基质。使用废弃盐水制备营养液减少了小西瓜的生长和产量，主要是在盐度高于 4.00 dS m ^-1的混合物中。盐胁迫引起的小西瓜气体交换变化具有气孔性质。迷你西瓜在盐胁迫条件下具有较高的能量稳定性。