Effect of salt stress on morpho-physiological and anatomical attributes of Salix clones

What is it about?

Water logging and secondary salinization are major impediment to the sustainability of canal irrigated south west regions of Punjab, India. In order to combat the twin menace of water logging and salinization, there is a need to promote cultivation of salt-resistant plants in waterlogged areas. Salix is one among such possible options to withstand the twin problems, as it is easy to propagate vegetatively over diverse ecological, hydrological and edaphic conditions. In India, Dr. Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan is leading the willow improvement programme on arborescent willows and has maintained a rich germplasm collection of two hundred clones/hybrids/species of indigenous as well as exotic willows, which have been repeatedly evaluated under nursery and field conditions. The best performing twenty eight clones of Salix were procured and tested under field conditions of Punjab, out of which five clones were selected for assessing their performance under salinity stress. The effect of salt stress on growth and physiological characteristics of superior selected Salix clones in response to varied salinity treatments, and induced anatomical changes in the plants were examined using SEM and EDS mapping and the best performing clone has been selected for field evaluation under problematic soils.

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