Abstract
A greenhouse study was conducted at Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, India, during 2002-2003, with sandy loam soils, on Cassia angustifolia (Indian senna) to evaluate the effect of saline water irrigation, using water of different salinity levels, on germination, lon accumulation, yield, and sennoside content in leaves and pods of C. angustifolia were determined. Studies on germination of senna seeds indicated that they were very tolerant of salinities up to 14.0 dS m-1. Saline water irrigation increased the sennoside content in leaves and pods of C. angustifolia that meets the specifications of Indian and British Pharmacopia. Leaves were found to produce more active ingredient than pods. Sennoside content was increased over controls even at 4.0 dS m-1. Plants tended to accumulate salts in shoots and the highest concentrations of salts (mostly Ca2+ and Na+) were in the leaves. When irrigated with water of high salinity (14.0 d S m-1) at short intervals, plant growth was reduced without injury symptoms, but with shedding of some lower leaves.
