Study on effect of different salinity on growth and morphological traits of nerium cultivars (Nerium oleander L.)

Six cultivars of Nerium (Single Pink, Single White, Single Red, Double Pink, Double White and Double Red) were evaluated to identify the salt tolerant cultivars on basis of growth and morphological parameters. This study was carried out in Department of Horticulture, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai. These cultivars were transplanted polybags with soils of four different salt levels includes control (S1 - 0.87 dS m-1), low saline (S2 - 3.94 dS m-1), medium saline (S3 - 5.78 dS m-1) and high saline (S4 - 7.85 dS m-1) along with 2 dS m-1 saline water (by dissolving NaCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2) was irrigated based on moisture availability. The parameter viz., plant height (84.53 cm), number of leaves per plant (1.09), leaf area (1773.32 cm2), stem thickness (3.12 cm), number of branches (1.09), root length (28.87 cm), root dry weight (25.59 g), internodal length (4.01 cm) and survival percentage (94.33%) was recorded. All parameters show significant decrease with increasing salinity. In cultivar Single Red plant height was high and low height was observed in Double Pink at high salinity. Double Red cultivar shows more tolerance to all salinity levels, but Double pink have more salinity symptoms and shows less tolerance.