Determining Legume Plants that Tolerate Dryness and Grow in Dry Lateritic Soil

In arid regions, productivity is restricted by an abundance of water. The objective of the research is to screen of suitability of some legume plants in the dry laterite soil of Purulia and adjoining districts in West Bengal, India. Seedlings (25 days old) of Acacia mangium Willd., Albizia procera (Roxb.) Benth, Bauhinia acuminata Linn. of the family Leguminosae (Fabaceae) is subject to PEG- induced water stress (- 0.5 and -1.0 MPa) to assess their relative water content and the contents of chlorophyll, protein, soluble sugars and proline in leaves as well as activities of enzymes catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase (SOD). In leaves of the seedlings, chlorophyll and protein contents decline with increasing levels of PEG-induced water stress in the case of all species whereas the amount of soluble sugar and proline content increases in all species with increasing levels of water stress. The enzyme activity of catalase, peroxidase and SOD decreased with increased level of water stress. Such decline in the activity of these enzymes was least in B. acuminata. Apparently, B. acuminata is potentially most tolerant to water stress among the plants studied.