Leucaena leucocephala and Prosopis juliflora: A comparative study of their seedlings with better drought adapted features in the time of rainfall pattern shifting

Abstract

Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de wit, and Prosopis juliflora (Sw) DC, were introduced across the country due to their wide importance andthey are posing threat to native trees and ecosystem because of their wild and invasive nature. Therefore, study of their invasive featuresbecomes important during the current rainfall shift as India is witnessing a decrease in average rainfall and rainy events but an increasein downpour events. Our study throws light upon these plants’ invasiveness and rainfall-adapted characteristics. We performed the studyin the Botanical Garden, Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh, India. The study included two experiments (1) Seed germination underdifferent treatments- 48% H2SO4 for 40 minutes (T1), Water at 100°C for 10 minutes (T2), one-day water-soaked seed (T3); (2) Seedlingssurvival percentage and growth-indices under different watering conditions i.e., 50 mL water per seedling every day (W1), 50 mL wateronce in four days (W2), 50 mL water once in ten days (W3). Result of this study revealed that P. juliflora exhibited better germinationspeed and percentage in all three treatments (T1, T2, T3) in comparison to the L. leucocephala, while under T1 treatment, both exhibitedbest germination. On the 60th day of experiment maximum survival percentage was recorded under W2 water condition but maximumroot length was observed under W3 treatment for L. leucocephala and P. juliflora while maximum stem height was found under W1 andW2 treatments for L. leucocephala and P. juliflora respectively. These finding would conclude that P. juliflora is more potential invaderin comparison to L. leucocephala as this gave the best result under the drought stress condition W2 and W3 for all the parameters andstudy performed. Study also highlight the need of mitigation measures to curb the unlimited growth of P. juliflora under the presentscenario of rainfall shift favouring the invasion of drought tolerating plants.