Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2025)

Soil-driven physiological and biometric traits in Ceiba pentandra (L. Gaertn) via cleft grafting and seed propagation in Southern India

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.4617
Submitted
10 August 2024
Published
24-01-2025 — Updated on 28-01-2025
Versions

Abstract

Ceiba pentandra, a multipurpose tree species, is widely utilized in agroforestry and afforestation projects. Evaluating its growth in diverse soil types via sexual and asexual propagation is essential for its promotion in various ecological regions. Thus, the current study was carried out to assess the growth of kapok in Tamil Nadu black soil and red laterite soil. Seeds for sexual propagation and scion wood for asexual propagation (cleft grafting) of Ceiba pentandra were obtained from four superior trees in Coimbatore and Theni districts. Six-month-old nursery-raised seedlings were used as rootstock. Seeds were sown and cleft grafting was conducted in February 2023. Both seedlings and grafts were transplanted to two study locations in September 2023. Significant variations in biometric parameters among different sources, soil types and propagation techniques were observed. CP-29 ramet recorded maximum height, volume index, greater photosynthetic rate and relative water content. Significant correlations between growth attributes and physiological traits were documented in the current study. Positive correlation between photosynthetic rate, number of leaves and stomatal conductance were noted. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that principal component 1 (PC1) accounted for 59.7% of the total variability and PC2 accounted for 35.1%. Ramets established through cleft grafting in black soil have shown favourable growth. Thus, the CP29 and MTP01 exhibited superior performances based on growth traits.

References

  1. Pezzini FF, Dexter KG, de Carvalho-Sobrinho JG, Kidner CA, Nicholls JA, De Queiroz LP. Phylogeny and biogeography of Ceiba Mill. (Malvaceae, Bombacoideae). Front Biogeogr. 2021;13:e49226. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.10.196238
  2. Blench RM. The intertwined history of the silk-cotton and baobab. In: Cappers R, editor. Fields of change: progress in African archaeobotany. The Netherlands: Groningen University Library. 2007. p. 1-19.
  3. Sudarshan A, Goroji PT, Lokesh SL, Backiyavathy MR. Carbon sequestration potential of kapok (Ceiba pentandra) plantations in Theni district of Tamil Nadu, India Ecol, Environ Conserv. 2014;20:1287-92.
  4. Immanuel RR, Ganapathy M. Growth and physiological attributes of Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. seeds and seedlings under salt stress. J Agric Biol Sci. 2007;2:12-16.
  5. Gawali AS. Biomass, Carbon sequestration and nutrient storage in Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. stands in agrisilviculture system. MSc [Thesis]. Chattishgarh: Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur; 2003.
  6. Khalil HA, Hossain MS, Rosamah E, Azli NA, Saddon N, Davoudpoura Y, Islam MN, Dungani R. The role of soil properties and its interaction towards quality plant fiber: A review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev. 2015;43:1006-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.11.099
  7. Huang G, Liang K, Zhou Z, Yang, Muralidharan EM. Variation in photosynthetic traits and correlation with growth in teak (Tectona grandis Linn.) clones. Forests. 2019;10:1-44. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10010044
  8. Parthiban KT, Surendran C, Murugesh M, Buvaneswaran C. Vegetative propagation of few multipurpose tree species using stem cutting. Adv Hortic Forest. 1999;6:175-8.
  9. Silva PP, De Freitas DV, Aride PHR, Contim LAS, Dos Santos ALW. Estabelecimento in vitro de apices caulinares de sumauma (Ceiba pentandra L. Gaertn). Sci Agra. 2010;11:437-43.
  10. Kumar P, Parthiban KT, Saravanan V. Genetic variations among open-pollinated families of selected better trees in Melia dubia. Research Journal of Recent Sciences. 2013;2277:2502.
  11. Ehleringer JR, Cerling TE. Atmospheric CO2 and the ratio of intercellular to ambient CO2 concentrations in plants. Tree Physio. 1995;15:105-11. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/15.2.105
  12. Petite MA, Moro GB, Murua GC, Lacuesta M, Rueda MA. Sequential effects of acidic precipitation and drought on photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of Pinus radiata D. Don seedlings. J Pl Physio. 2000;156:84-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0176-1617(00)80276-x
  13. Barrs HD, Weatherley PE. A re-examination of the relative turgidity technique for estimating water deficits in leaves. Australian J Biol Sci. 1962;15:413-28.
  14. Yoshida S, Forno DA, Cock JH. Laboratory manual for physiological studies of rice. Los Baños, Philippines: International Rice Research Institute; 1971.
  15. Panse VG, Sukhatme PV. Statistical methods for agricultural workers. New Delhi: ICAR. 1989.
  16. R Core Team R: A language and environment for statistical computing [Interent]. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available from: https://www.R-project.org/.
  17. Johnson DM, Katherine AM, Reinhardt K. The earliest stages of tree growth: development, physiology and impacts of microclimate. In: Meinzer F, Lachenbruch B, Dawson T, editors. Size- and age-related changes in tree structure and function- tree physiology, vol 4. Dordrecht:Springer; 2011. p. 65-87. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1242-3_3
  18. Meijer SS, Holmgren M, Van der Putten WH. Effects of plant-soil feedback on tree seedling growth under arid conditions. J Pl Ecol. 2011;4:193-200. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtr011
  19. Akhilraj TM, Inamati SS, Kambli SS, Soman D, Vasudeva R. Growth performance of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) under different soil types in northern region of Karnataka. Ind J Ecol. 2023;50:1712-715. https://doi.org/10.55362/IJE/2023/4122
  20. Apshara SE. Comparative study on clonal and seedling progenies of selected cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) genotypes. Ind J Hortic. 2017;74:168-72. https://doi.org/10.5958/0974-0112.2017.00037.8
  21. Raines CA. The Calvin cycle revisited. Photosyn Res. 2003;75:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1022421515027
  22. Ai ZM, Zhang JY, Liu HF, Xin Q, Xue S, Liu GB. Soil nutrients influence the photosynthesis and biomass in invasive Panicum virgatum on the Loess Plateau in China. Plant Soil. 2017;418:153-64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3286-x
  23. Harfouche A, Meilan R, Altman A. Molecular and physiological responses to abiotic stress in forest trees and their relevance to tree improvement. Tree Physio. 2014;34:1181-98. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpu012
  24. Maire V, Wright IJ, Prentice IC, Batjes NH, Bhaskar R, van Bodegom RM, Cornwell WK, Ellsworth D, Niinemets U, Ordonez A, Reich PB. Global effects of soil and climate on leaf photosynthetic traits and rates. Global Ecol Biogeo. 2015; 24:706-17. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12296
  25. Buschmann C, Grumbach K. Mechanismus der Photosynthese. Physiologie der Photosynthese. 1985:54-145. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70255-6_5
  26. Silveira AMF, Coelho Netto RA, Marenco RA. Biomass allocation in Ceiba pentandra (Malvaceae) under water stress and high CO2 concentration. Sci Forest. 2023;51:e3955. https://doi.org/10.18671/scifor.v51.10
  27. Calzavara AK, Bianchini E, Mazzanatti T, Oliveira HC, Stolf-Moreira R, Pimenta JA. Morphoanatomy and ecophysiology of tree seedlings in semideciduous forest during high-light acclimation in nursery. Photosynthet. 2015;53:597-608. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-015-0151-0
  28. Silveira AM, Marenco RA. Elevated CO2 induces down-regulation of photosynthesis and alleviates the effect of water deficit in Ceiba pentandra (Malvaceae). Revista Arvore. 2023;47:e4721. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-908820230000021
  29. da Silva Ribeiro JE, Figueiredo FRA, dos Santos Coêlho E, Nóbrega JS, de Albuquerque MB. Ecophysiology of Ceiba glaziovii (Kuntze) K. Schum. J Agric Stud. 2020;8:182-94. https://doi.org/10.5296/jas.v8i2.15774
  30. Karthikeyan M, Parthiban KT, Boominathan P, Umesh SK, Fernandaz C. Clonal variation in gas exchange traits linked to water use efficiency in eucalyptus. Ind J Ecol. 2021;48: 1721-25. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15878-0
  31. Simkin AJ, Kapoor L, Doss CGP, Hofmann TA, Lawson T, Ramamoorthy S. The role of photosynthesis-related pigments in light harvesting, photoprotection and enhancement of photosynthetic yield in planta. Photosyn Res. 2022;152:23-42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-021-00892-6
  32. Immanuel RR, Ganapathy M. Growth and physiological attributes of Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. seeds and seedlings under salt stress. J Agric Biol Sci. 2007;2:12-6.
  33. Lugojan C, Ciulca S. Evaluation of relative water content in winter wheat. J Hortic Forest Biotech. 2011;15:173-7.
  34. Silveira AM, Marenco RA. Elevated CO2 induces down-regulation of photosynthesis and alleviates the effect of water deficit in Ceiba pentandra (Malvaceae). Revis Arv. 2023;47:e4721. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-908820230000021
  35. Ashwath MN, Santhoshkumar AV, Kunhamu TK, Hrideek TK, Shiran, K. Epicormic shoot induction and rooting of Tectona grandis from branch cuttings: influence of growing condition and hormone application. Ind J Ecol. 2023;50:38-46. https://doi.org/10.55362/IJE/2023/3849
  36. Vishnu MJ, Parthiban KT, Raveendran M, Umesh SK, Radhakrishnan S, Shabbir R. Variation in biochemical, physiological and ecophysiological traits among the teak (Tectona grandis Linn. f) seed sources of India. Scien Rep. 2023; 12:11677. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15878-0
  37. Koc I. Examining seed germination rate and seedlings gas exchange performances of some Turkish red pine provenances under water stress. Duzce Universitesi Bilim ve Teknoloji Dergisi. 2021;9(3):48-60. https://doi.org/10.29130/dubited.898820
  38. Singh NB, Sharma JP, Huse SK, Thakur IK, Gupta RK, Sankhyan HP. Heritability, genetic gain, correlation and principal component analysis in introduced willow (Salix species) clones. Indian Forest. 2012;138:1100.
  39. Kenzo T, Ichie T, Watanabe Y, Yoneda R, Ninomiya I, Koike T. Changes in photosynthesis and leaf characteristics with tree height in five dipterocarp species in a tropical rain forest. Tree Physio. 2006;26:865-73. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/26.7.865
  40. Drake PL, Froend RH, Franks PJ. Smaller, faster stomata: scaling of stomatal size, rate of response and stomatal conductance. J Exper Botany. 2013;64:495-505. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/ers347
  41. Huang G, Liang K, Zhou Z, Yang G, Muralidharan EM. Variation in photosynthetic traits and correlation with growth in teak (Tectona grandis Linn.) clones. Forests. 2019;10:1-44. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10010044
  42. Ariff EARE, Abdullah S, Suratman MN. The Relationships between Height and Stomatal conductance, chlorophyll content, diameter of rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) saplings. In: The 12th Symposium of the Malaysian Society of Applied Biology. Engineering and Industrial Applications (ISBEIA); 2012 June 1-2, Kuala Terengganu: ISBEIA. 2012; p. 1-4.
  43. Tripathi S, Farooqui A, Singh V, Singh S, Kumar R. Morphometrical analysis of Ceiba Mill. (Bombacoideae, Malvaceae) pollen: a sacred plant of the Mayan (Mesoamerican) civilization. Palynol. 2019;43:551-73. https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2018.1467350
  44. Abengmeneng CS. Evaluation of Ceiba pentandra for stem dieback disease resistance and characterization by molecular marker. PhD [dissertation]. 2013. Kumasi: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. https://ir.knust.edu.gh/handle/123456789/6499
  45. Ferreira WR, Ranal MA, de Santana DG, Nogueira APO. Germination and emergence measurements could group individuals and species? Braz J Bot. 2015;38:457-68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-015-0153-y
  46. Sokpon N, Dotonhoue F, Ouinsavi C. Patterns of ecological structure and spatial distribution of Kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) populations in Benin. Annales de Universite de Parakou Ser. 2011;2:5-26.
  47. Gomez-Maqueo X, Soriano D, Velazquez-Rosas N, Alvarado-Lopez S, Jimenez-Duran K, Garciadiego MD, Gamboa-deBuen A. The seed water content as a time-independent physiological trait during germination in wild tree species such as Ceiba aesculifolia. Scienti Rep. 2020;10(1):10429. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66759-3

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.