Anatomical Changes during Rooting of Mangroves - Avicennia officinalis and Excoecaria agallocha
T. Govindan *
PG and Research Department of Botany, Government Arts College, C. Mutlur-608 102, Tamil Nadu, India
K. Kathiresan
Faculty of Marine Sciences, CAS in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Parangipettai-608 502, Tamil Nadu, India
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Mangrove forests continue to disappear all over the world due to a number of reasons. This is the study made to screen the anatomical and biochemical changes during the rooting process. Two important mangrove species have been examined based on their salt relationship natures: Avicennia officinalis subsp. australasica (salt excreting plant) and Excoecaria agallocha L (salt accumulating plant). The plants were treated with different root promoting hormones like IBA, IAA and NAA at different concentrations for three minutes each. After 45 days of the growth period root growth and anatomical changes were observed. The roots originated from the deeper zone of the secondary xylem after several anatomical variations in the hormone treated plants. This is the first trial which may help to determine the mass propagation of these commercial and medicinally important mangroves.
Keywords: Mangroves, plant hormones, endomorphic changes, anatomical variations, subsp, australasica