Adapting Mechanism of Tamarindus indica under Dry-hot Environment

Key words: 
• Tamarindus indica L. /
• dry-hot environments /
• applicability /
• mechanism

Abstract: In the report, to explore the drought-adaptation mechanism of T.indica, the root growth, water content and proline content in plant tissues, photosynthetic characteristic and transpiration characteristic were analyzed. The results showed that it is under arid environment that the roots of T.indica were greatly proliferated, and which were beneficial for absorbing water from soil to meet the request of physiological water; the bund water content in plant tissue was higher than free water content, which would result in slow hydraulic metabolism which should be helpful to adapt to arid environment; the proline content in plant tissue increased during dry season, and which could facilitate cell water retaining and prevent dehydration; to adapt dry environment, T.indica regulated the photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate by adjusting stomata conductance. However, all these adaptive characters would limit their productivity potential.