GROWTH PERORMANCE OF TAMARIND (Tamarindus indica L.) SEEDLINGS TO DIFFERENT LEVELS OF SALINITY AND SODICITY

Abstract

Agroforestry is a viable land-use option of salt affected soils which ensure the remunerative use of this valuable resource. A two years pot study was carried out to evaluate salinity tolerance of tamarind fruit plant against different levels of salinity and sodicity. Treatments included were: T₁ = EC_e, 1.17 dS m^-1 + SAR, 10.87, T₂ = EC_e, 6 dS m^-1 + SAR, 25, T₃ = EC_e, 6 dS m^-1 + SAR, 35, T₄ = EC_e, 6 dS m^-1 + SAR, 45, T₅ = EC_e, 8 dS m^-1 + SAR, 25, T₆ = EC_e, 8 dS m^-1 + SAR, 35, T₇ = EC_e, 8 dS m^-1 + SAR, 45, T₈ = EC_e, 10 dS m^-1 + SAR, 25, T₉ = EC_e, 10 dS m^-1 + SAR, 35, T₁₀ = EC_e, 10 dS m^-1 + SAR, 45. Results revealed that no plant was survived at higher level of salinity (10 dS m^-1) and sodicity (SAR 45) and complete cessation and mortality was observed in this treatment. Data of survived plants at the end of study showed that salinity and sodicity arrested the growth variables of tamarind seedlings and increasing levels of salinity-sodicity led a reduction of 3.52% to 82.47% in plant height, 1.53% to 84.61% in stem girth, 5.63% to 88.26% in number of leaves and 7.44 to 90.77 in number of branches over control (non-stress) treatment. Therefore, it was concluded that tamarind seedling can withstand and survive at salinity and sodicity level of 10 dS m^-1 and SAR 35.