The planting of castor bean ( Ricinus communis L.) by seedlings can be an alternative for a better use of the short rainy season in the Brazilian semiarid, but in this region, irrigation water, almost always has a salt concentration that affects the quality of seedlings the vast majority of oil. In this context, this work was to study the effects of saline water at levels of 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 and 5.5 dS m -1 and two volumes substrate: 1.0 and 2.5 L on the germination and early growth of two castor bean cultivars (BRS BRS Paraguacu and Northeast). The study was conducted in the open at the Experimental Station of Embrapa Cotton, in Barbalha, Ceara. Treatments were arranged in randomized blocks in five replicates, using the factorial 2*2*6. Regardless of cultivar, although the saline water inhibits germination and plant development, the effects were more pronounced in treatments with lower volume of substrate. Both cultivars have suffered more the action of salinity on growth during the initial seed germination.
