National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS)
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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
An experiment was conducted at the Botanic Gardens, Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during 2015-2016. The present study pertains to the effect of salt stress on three ornamental shrubs of Clerodendrum inerme, Leucophyllum frutescens and Acalypha hispida and their suitability for salinity condition. Ten saline treatments were taken viz., 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54dS/m and0.04 dS/m (Control). The treatments were imposed by irrigating the plants with desired amount of NaCl dissolved in irrigation water. Plants were watered on alternate days (1 litre plant-1) to simulated salinity conditions as seen near coastal belt. The observations were recorded on morphological characters, Clerodendrum and Leucophyllum were tolerant to salinity. Leucophyllum and Clerodendrum experienced a strong reduction in growth and a delay in flowering but no toxicity symptoms or mortality was recorded. These species were found to be moderate NaCl accumulators. Acalypha was sensitive to salinity, as 50% of the plants exhibited mortality and the surviving ones experienced a heavy reduction of growth and increased accumulation of NaCl in the leaves. At higher salt levels, morphological parameters including plant height, root length, number of leaves, leaf thickness, and plant spread were significantly reduced for all the plant species. However, in Leucophyllum and Clerodendrum, NaCl caused slight decrease only in the morphological parameters as compared with Acalypha.
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