Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

PETIOLE MORPHOLOQY IN WATER MACINTH (EICHHOMIA CRASSIPES MART SOMS S II NTHCATION OF THE NUTRIENT STATUS OF THE HABITAT

V.S.G.R. Naidu and Seema Paroha

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the biomass production of water hyacinth grown in different growth medium, it was observed that there is variability in petiole morphology with respect to growth medium.The long and narrow petioles were found in the plants grown in nutrient rich soil and hoagland solution.Whereas, the petioles were very short and swollen under nutrient poor distilled water. It suggests that the nutrient availability in the medium has direct bearing on the petiole growth. Observations on the petiole growth reflect the nutrient status of the habitat there by growth and performance of the water hyacinth in waste water treatment.