Assessment of variation for leaf parameters among different sources of Terminalia arjuna (Roxb.)Wight &Arn. in Uttara Kannada district of Western Ghats

Abstract

Terminalia arjuna is one of the medicinally important native tree species of India and Sri Lanka and well knownfor its superlative cardio-protective properties. As bark is the most economical part of the tree, only a handful of informationis available on leaves, but leaves act as good morphological markers to assess morphometric superiority of the trees. Presentinvestigation was carried out to study variation of quantitative and qualitative parameters of leaf in four different girthclasses (G1: 0-50 cm, G2: 50-100 cm, G3: 100-150 cm and G4: >150 cm) of four different sources of Uttara Kannada district{Hosakambi (S1), Manchikeri (S2), Yellapura (S3), and Mundgod (S4)}. Significant variation was observed in quantitativeleaf parameters i.e., leaf length, leaf width and leaf area; among the sources highest leaf length (15.10 cm), leaf width (4.80cm) and leaf area (70.90 cm2) was recorded for the trees of Hosakambi source (S1). Among the girth classes, highest leaflength (17.00 cm), leaf width (5.10 cm) and leaf area (81.70 cm2) was recorded for leaves of G1 girth class. Significantvariation was observed in qualitative leaf parameters i.e., leaf shape, leaf tip shape and leaf margin. Among the sources, moreoblong (38.33%) and elliptical (38.33%) shaped leaves; more leaves with crenate-serrate margin (76.67%) were recorded inMundgod source (S4). Whereas, Hosakambi (S1) source recorded more number of leaves with sub-acute leaf tip (56.67%).Overall, among the sources and girth classes, more number of trees exhibited elliptical shaped leaves (38.00%), more numberof leaves with crenate-serrate (72.00%) margin and higher proportion of sub-acute (53.00%) leaf tip shapes. The currentstudy revealed that the leaf parameters are reliable morphological characters to study the source variation.