Research On Adaptability Of Vetiveria Zizanioides To Flooding

Morphological and physiological responses of vetiver to flooding and its resistance to flooding were studied. The results are as follows:1. Potted plant assaying showed that vetiver could survive for 3 months in summer and 5 months in winter when they were fully flooded, and vetiver could resume to grow gradually after removal of flooding.2. Flooding inhibits the elongation of vetiver roots, and the younger seedlings were,the severer inhibition was. On the condition of flooding, the root hair of vetiver was decreased significantly and the color of root system became black. Moreover, moderate flooding increased biomass while deeper flooding decreased it.3 At the situation of moderate flooding, the tillers increased and the biomass of up-grounded parts has no significant difference. However, the tillers and the biomass of up-grounded parts were all inhibited by deeper flooding. In addition, the height of vetiver was influenced by flooding.4. The chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate , stomata conductance and transpiration rate of flooded vetiver were higher than those of control group. On the flooding condition, the vigor of the old root system rose first and fall then. After two weeks, the flooded vetiver developed a great deal of new roots and the vigor of new roots was higher than that of control group.5. When vetiver was flooded, CAT activities increased greatly and MDA content rose slightly while SOD activities and the electrolyte leakage have no obvious differences between flooding group and control group.On the whole, vetiver showed much adaptation to flooding in morphology and physiology and had strong resistance to flooding. So vetiver is an amphibious plant and could be planted along river banks and reservoir banks where water levels fluctuate .