60

Table 13: Effect of flooding on leaf chloride content of saltbushes grown on

ground
and mounds.

Flooding
treatments

A. amnicola
Ground
Mound

A. lentiformis
Ground
Mound

Cumulative
mean

%
No
Periodic
Continuous
Cumulative
mean

3.52
3.67
4.37
3.85

Flooding effect on leaf

3.58
3.75
4.26
3.86

3.23
3.42
3.60
3.41

3.31
3.46
3.54
3.42

3.40 c
3.57 b
3.94 a

+
K content (%) of species.

A. amnicola 3.86 a
A. lentiformis 3.42 b
Mean values followed by different letters are statistically significant at 0.05 P.

Analysis of variance
S.V.
Treatments (T)
Error
Species (S)
TxS
Planting method (M)
TxM
SxM
TxSxM
Error
*
**
N. S

Significant at 0.05 P.
Highly significant at 0.001 P.
Non-significant.

D.F.
2
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
9

F. value
213.18 *
442.29 **
58.27 *
0.42 N. S
5.78 N. S
0.10 N. S
0.44 N. S

61

4.2

4.2.1

GLASSHOUSE TRIAL:

Plant growth during flooding

Shoot elongation of tagged branches of saltbushes was measured weekly

during four weeks flooding period. Date and ANOVA are given in Table-14.
Statistically analysis of total shoot elongation after four weeks of flooding (Table15) revealed that shoot elongation of no-flooded plants was significantly higher
than the periodically and continuously flooded plants. No significant differences
were observed in shoot elongation of periodically and continuously flooded plants.
Shoot elongation of A. amnicola was significantly higher than that of A. lentiformis.

Shoot elongation of A. amnicola (Fig. 10a) with time course, indicated that
continuously and periodically flooded plants remained depressed throughout the
flooding period, Non-flooded plants showed a linear increase in their shoot
elongation. A. lentiformis (Fig. 10b) also exhibited a similar trend of growth
reduction with time course in shoot elongation of periodically and continuously
flooded plants. No-flooded plants maintained higher plant growth as compared to
flooded plants.

These results agree with findings of Galloway and Davidson (1993) who
reported a reduction in shoot growth of A. amnicola under hypoxic conditions, The
reduced growth under