Assessment of soil and water quality status of rose growing areas of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, India

Rose is a commercial flower crop widely grown across India. It is highly sensitive to salinity and alkalinity. In the process of identification of salt and alkalinity resistant rootstocks of rose cultivars, a survey was conducted in the rose growing areas of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Rajasthan. Total of 28 representative surface soil samples were collected from rose fields of these regions, processed and analyzed for the soil quality parameters. Similarly water samples (20 samples) from the bore wells of these fields were collected and analyzed. The results revealed that most of the soils of rose growing fields in UP were alkaline (pH >8.0) with normal salt content (electrical conductivity, EC < 0.5 dS m-1). Many of these soils also had higher bicarbonates (> 3 meq 100 g-1). In case of Rajasthan, few samples had higher pH, EC, chloride (>2 meq 100 g-1) and bicarbonate contents. Exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) of UP and Rajasthan samples ranged from 5.21-20.7% and 2.94-24.9%, respectively. In case of water parameters in these areas, pH was slightly in alkaline range, EC of some of the samples were high (>1 dSm-1). Sodium content was slightly higher than other cations. Soluble sodium percentage (SSP) of water samples was also slightly higher than normal range (0-50%). Few samples had slightly higher chloride above the threshold limit. From the results, it is concluded that soil and water quality of the rose growing areas of UP and Rajasthan is marginal and proper management/reclamation measures need to be carried out for sustaining the production system

Molybdenum (Mo) increases endogenous phenolics, proline and photosynthetic pigments and the phytoremediation potential of the industrially important plant Ricinus communis L. for removal of cadmium from contaminated soil.

Cadmium (Cd) in agricultural soil negatively affects crops yield and compromises food safety. Remediation of polluted soil is necessary for the re-establishment of sustainable agriculture and to prevent hazards to human health and environmental pollution. Phytoremediation is a promising technology for decontamination of polluted soil. The present study investigated the effect of molybdenum (Mo) (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 ppm) on endogenous production of total phenolics and free proline, plant biomass and photosynthetic pigments in Ricinus communis plants grown in Cd (25, 50 and 100 ppm) contaminated soils and the potential for Cd phytoextraction. Mo was applied via seed soaking, soil addition and foliar spray. Foliar sprays significantly increased plant biomass, Cd accumulation and bioconcentration. Phenolic concentrations showed significantly positive correlations with Cd accumulation in roots (R 2 = 0.793, 0.807 and 0.739) and leaves (R 2 = 0.707, 721 and 0.866). Similarly, proline was significantly positively correlated with Cd accumulation in roots (R 2 = 0.668, 0.694 and 0.673) and leaves (R 2 = 0.831, 0.964 and 0.930). Foliar application was found to be the most effective way to deliver Mo in terms of increase in plant growth, Cd accumulation and production of phenolics and proline

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Not AvailableMango is a commercial fruit crop in different parts of the tropical and subtropical world. Commercially important monoembryonic varieties are propagated through grafting onto rootstock seedlings of polyembryonic genotypes that plays an important role in sustained growth and production. Use of salt tolerant genotypes as rootstock to combat the adverse effect of salinity could be helpful for commercial mango production in salt affected areas. Current study was carried out to elucidate the effect of salinity stress induced by NaCl + CaCl2 (1:1 w/w) at 0, 25, 50 and 100 mM concentrations in irrigation water on candidate polyembryonic mango genotypes namely EC-95862, Bappakkai, Vellaikolamban, Nekkare, Turpentine, Muvandan, Kurukkan, Kensington, Olour, Manipur, Deorakhio, Vattam, Mylepelian, Sabre and Kitchener. We studied the morpho-physiological changes of these seedlings under salinity induced stress for determining their relative tolerance by assessing growth parameters such as plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, intermodal length, fresh weight of shoot, fresh weight of root, dry weight of shoot, dry weight of root, stem diameter and physiological parameters like photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, number of stomata and stomata length and width, in addition to ABA content in leaves. Our results clarifies that the polyembryonic genotypes Turpentine, Deorakhio Olour and Bappakkai showed less reduction in terms of growth and better maintenance of gas exchange status under higher level of salinityNot Availabl

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Not AvailableMango (Mangifera indica L.) is a salt sensitive crop particularly at early stages of growth. So, it is essential to study the response of mango seed germination and seedling growth against salinity stress. In this experiment, the effect of salinity (induced by 50 mM NaCl) stress was studied on seed germination, biomass content and growth responses in newly emerged seedlings of sixteen polyembryonic mango genotypes namely EC-95862, Vattam, Vellaikolamban, Nekkare, Mylepelian, Turpentine, Sabre, Manipur, Kitchener, Kensington, Olour, Kurukkan, Bappakkai, Chandrakaran, Muvandan and Deorakhio. Among these genotypes Turpentine (97.50%), Bappakkai (92.50%) and Vattam (80%) showed early and maximum germination after 20 days of sowing while the genotypes, Chandrakaran, Sabre, Kensington and Vellaikolamban depicted 80.00%, 85.00%, 85.00% and 87.50% germination, respectively. Other genotypes had late germination under 50 mM salinity stress (35 days of sowing). The germinated mango seedlings were exhibited significant decline in plant height, numbers of leaf per plant, number seedlings per seed, stem diameter (mm), root length (cm), fresh and dry weight of shoot (g), fresh and dry weight of root (g) under saline conditions, with plant biomass being most sensitive to salinity. With respect to growth behavior, the genotypes Turpentine, Deorakhio and Olour showed a minimum reduction in biomass under salinity and Kitchener, Mylepelian and Chandrakaran, the maximumNot Availabl