Comparative foliar studies in saline sand and fresh water soil - grown Trigonella foenum - graecum Linn. plants

Abstract

Vegetable markets in Mumbai sell “methi” at two stages of growth, the full grown vegetative to flowering stage and another at two cotyledonary-leaves stage. The latter are commonly grown in the sandy beaches of Mumbai whereas the former are the regular soil-grown ones. The beach grown Trigonella foenum-graecum L. plants are watered with saline beach- well waters whereas the soil-grown ones are watered with regular fresh water. The research work focused on studying the impact of this difference in growing conditions on many growth parameters, viz., morphology, anatomy and biochemical analyses of the sand and soil-grown plants in addition to sand, soil and water analyses. Current paper deals with the impact of these different growing conditions on some foliar parameters viz., anatomy, stomatal index, palisade ratio and venation patterns, in the two types of Trigonella foenum-graecum L. plants.