Impact of water deficit stress on growth and alkaloid content of organs of Spigelia anthelmia (L.)

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to study the effect of water deficit stress on the growth and alkaloid content of different organs of Spigelia anthelmia (L), a medicinal plant used locally as an anthelminthic. Plants were subjected to 6 days drought at the early (EV plants) and late (LV plants) vegetative stages (30-35 and 52-57 days after planting respectively). Water stress caused a reduction in height, leaf area, root biomass, whole plant biomass, leaf area ratio and relative growth rate of stressed plants but the impact was more intense in EV plants. Minimal  differences in alkaloid content (21.5-22.8 mg g^-1 ) occurred among organs (fruit, leaves, stem, and roots) of plants subjected to stress at both vegetative stages and the control. Thus, water deficit stress at the vegetative stage of Spigelia anthelmia caused reductions in growth but did not affect the concentration of alkaloid in the plant organs.

Keywords: Water Deficit, Alkaloids, Growth, Spigelia anthelmia