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Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development (AJAD) - Call for papers!

Morphological and Physiological Studies on Eleochoris dulcis (Burm. F) Trin. I. Gross Morphology of Eleochoris dulcis (Burm. f.) Trin under Saline Condition.

(Thailand), Master of Science (University of the Philippines Los Baños)

Thesis Abstract:

 

The study aimed to obtain more basic information on the  morphology and anatomy of plant and to assess its crop potential when grown under saline condtion as affected by fertility levels of the soil.

Culm and scale cross section showed the hypodermis to be composed of groups of small sclerenchyma cells which were well developed in the upper and middle portions of the culm but not in the lower part. “Arch cells” and “columnar cells” (not described in existing literature) were found in the culm vascular bundles. The culm and rhizomes had abundant and well developed air-cavities. The root cortex consisted of a hypodermal layer and several layers of aerenchyma. The stele was enclosed by two layers of regularly shaped cells, while a third layer formed the pericylce.

Germination of E. dulcis tubers was suppressed by NaCI even at low concentration. Increasing NaCI concentration decreased seedling height, number of culms and dry weight of culms, root and rhizomes.

Growth performance of plants in the pot experiment indicated that in the first cropping, the application of 60-30-30 kg N, P2O5 and K20 per hectare gave better growth than 30-15-15 kg per hectare in terms of plant height, number of culms per plant, root dry weight, and number and fresh weight of tubers. In the second cropping, only fresh weight and number of immature tubers and root dry weight from 120-60-60 treated plants were higher than those from the 60-30-30 treatment.

Increasing NaCI concentration in the soil in both croppings increased the percentage of partly dry and number of dead culms and chlorophyll content but decreased plant height, number of culms per plant, plant dry weight and tuber yield. Also, sodium and chloride content in culm, tuber, rhizome and root increased but potassium, calcium and magnesium decreased.