ADAPTIVE COMPONENTS OF Cyperus exaltatus UNDER HARSH SALINE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Among the environmental problems, salinity is one of the major threats to agriculture around the globe which affects more than 6% of the available land on earth. However halophytes are blessed with the ability to cope with high salinity by various mechanisms. The present study was aimed to explore adaptive components of Cyperus exaltatus which is now growing widely at a number of saline areas across the Pakistan. Extensive trips were made across the country to collect the populations of Cyperus exaltatus from all sorts of environments with varying levels of salinity. The morphological study of ecotypes showed that many growth parameters were affected negatively under higher salinity. However, root length, shoot length, plant height, shoot fresh and dry weight showed a high association with hyper saline sites. Moreover the physiological parameters such as proline content, total soluble proteins and total soluble sugars were accumulated in higher concentrations among populations at hyper saline sites while in lower concentrations at moderately saline and less saline sits which may have supported the production of higher biomass under salinity. The results show that the plants like Cyperus exaltatus can be grown under various types of environmental stresses especially under salinity. Thus the barren saline lands can be used to produce fodder as well as the growth of plants may also help to reduce the levels of salinity in such areas.