Effect of Soil Salinity on Herb and Oil Yield and Quality of Some Cymbopogon Species

In greenhouse test using soils of graded salinity it has been observed that palmarosa (Cymbopogon Stapf Martini), lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus Steud Wats), and citronella Java (Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt) can be grown without significant reduction in herb and oil yield up to an electrical conductivity (EC) of 11.5, 10.0 and 5.5 mmhos/cm, respectively. At 7.5 EC mmhos/cm while the herb yield of citronella was reduced by 32 to 54% over control (0.5 mmhos[cm), that of palmarosa increased by 12 to 16% with the effect being of lesser magnitude on lemongrass. Even at EC level of 11.5 mmhos/cm, palmarosa yield suffered by 3 to 6% only as against more than 80% in case of citronella. Oil content and its quality with respect to geraniol in palmarosa and citral in lemongrass were not affected by increasing levels of salinity up to 15 mmhos/cm, which being the highest level tried.