Salt tolerance in Andrographis paniculata accessions

Andrographis paniculata, commonly known as Kalmegh is an impotant source of phytochemicals(Andrographolide and Neo-andrographolide)that have hepatoprotection, hypoglycemic, anti-bacterial, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, vermicidal, anti-acene, anti-typhoid, and anti-malaria effects. In addition, A. paniculata can grow well on range of soils even on lands with low fertility status. The growth and herbage yield depend on the environmental and genetic consistency and the information on the salt-tolerance of a paniculata accessions maybe of great importance. These plants may or may not tolerate salts stress or there maybe inter-accessions variability for salt-tolerance. Seven accessions(Acc.11225, Acc.11228, Acc.11234, Acc.11316, Acc.11345, Acc.11348 and Acc.11349) of A. paniculata were evaluated for salt-tolerance. Seedlings were grown for 4 weeks in artificially salinized soil with 4, 8 and 12 conductivity (ECe dS/m) levels in polyethylene bags. The results of the study revealed that increasing soil ECe decreased significantly plant height, number of fully expanded leaves on the main-stem and herbage yield. At soil ECe of 4, 8 and 12 dS/m, the dirty herbage yield was decreased by 35, 63 and 91%, respectively. The adverse effect of salinity was greate4r at 8 and 12 ECe (dS/m) level. With the exception of Acc.11345, all accessions could not survive at the highest ECe level (12 dS/m). The Acc.11228 appeared to be the most sensitive to all ECe levels than other accessions tested. Despite having lower response at EC3 4dS/m, the Acc.11345 showed some tolerance to salinity followed by Acc.11225. The seedlings grown at ECe 4 and 8 (dS/m) had higher Na+ and lower K+ content and showed lower K+/Na+ ratio in tissues. The sensitive accessions like Acc.11228 with smaller height and low herbage yield had higher Na+ and lower K+ in tissues. The sodium/potassium ratio was generally higher in those accessions (Acc.11345 and Acc.11225) which exhibited some tolerance to salinity.