Growing three aromatic grasses in different alkali soils in semi‐arid regions of northern India

Abstract

Alkali lands in India occupy about 3 million ha. Due to poor physical properties, excessive exchangeable sodium and high pH, most of these lands support a very poor vegetation cover. Many of the medicinal and aromatic plants are in great demand for both internal requirements and export. But since these crops are non-conventional in nature, it is not always possible for them to be produced on fertile lands, which can be used for arable crops. The marginal lands, specifically the lands affected by salinity or sodicity problems where profitable returns are not possible from agricultural crops, could be successfully utilized for the cultivation of these high-value crops with marginal inputs. Results reported in this paper clearly indicated that out of three aromatic grasses, palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii (Roxb.) Wats.) and lemon grass (C. flexuosus (Steud.) Wats.) could successfully be grown on moderatly alkali soils of pH up to 9Á2 while vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash), which withstands both high pH and stagnation of water, could successfully be grown without significant yield reduction on highly alkali soils. These grasses not only produce essential oils used for industrial purposes but also ameliorate the soil.

Extent and characterisation of salt‐affected soils in Iran and strategies for their amelioration and management

“…Although crop-based management of salt-affected soils has been in practice for decades in Iran and elsewhere in the world, there has been a renewed interest in this approach because in addition to soil amelioration there are economic incentives from the crops in terms of their market demand or farm level utilisation (Marcar et al, 2003;Dagar et al, 2004;Qadir and Oster, 2004). Additional benefits from crop-based interventions include improved nutrient availability status (Qadir et al, 2001) and carbon storage (Kaur et al, 2002) in the post-plantation soil.…”

Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides) responses to fertilization and salinity under irrigation conditions

“…In a study that tried to develop management practices for growing vetiver under Mediterranean conditions (Dudai et al, 2006), it was found that once it was established, vetiver could survive the dry Mediterranean summer, although rain-fed plants were much shorter than irrigated ones. Dagar et al (2004) found that in semi-arid regions of northern India, that vetiver, which withstands both high pH and flooded conditions, could successfully be grown without significant yield reductions on highly alkaline soils.…”

Effect of H2O2 concentrations on copper removal using the modified hydrothermal biochar

“…Meanwhile, the mentioned relationship was very important for the analysis of the effect mechanisms of H 2 O 2 concentrations on metal removal. On the other hand, Cymbopogon schoenanthus L. Spreng (Lemon grass, LG) is widely indigenous in tropical and semi-tropical areas and has been found to be commercially biological resources (Dagar et al, 2004). However, there were no literatures on the use of LG as the source of hydrothermally carbonized sorbents until now.…”