Studies on Effect of Salt Stress on Some Medicinal Plants

Climatic change has become increasingly recognized as one of the greatest challenges to humankind and all other life on earth. The productivity of plants is greatly affected by various environmental stresses. Plant stress is a condition where excessive salts in soil solution cause inhibition of plant growth or plant death. Salinity stress negatively impacts agricultural yield throughout the world affecting production whether it is for subsistence or economic gain. The medicinal properties of plant species have made an outstanding contribution in the origin and evolution of many traditional therapies. In India, many government and non-government organizations have had focused attention on improving the medicinal plants sector. So the study is related to effect of salt stress on our selected medicinal plants which may help upto some extent for their cultivation. Azadirachta indica , Cassia fistula, Catharanthus roseus, Aloe barbadensis, and Ocimum sanctum were selected for our study and there biochemical parameters like total chlorophyll content and total carbohydrate content were estimated to know the salt tolerance among those plants. Through our field experiment Azadirachta indica showed the highest tolerance towards salinity both by morphological parameters and by biochemical parameters and remaining all four get wilted and the quality reduced gradually.