Soil salinity (including sodicity) is a major constraint in reducing plant growth and land productivity worldwide. Out of an estimated area ca.188 m ha of total degraded lands in India, approx. 10 m ha are affected by salt problem. Equally alarming is the menace of secondary salinization due to use of poor quality irrigation water. Like wise a sizeable area in the country is either affected by excess moisture (periodical waterlogging) or water stress. Improvement and subsequent utilization of these type of culturable waste lands has significant importance in India. It requires suitable reclamation and management strategies, which in many of the situations, are very cumbersome and expensive. The alternate proposition is breeding crop varieties and finding new crops that can tolerate the adverse soil and moisture conditions. Our investigations indicate that some high value medicinal and aromatic crops tolerate to a greater extent different degree of abiotic stress including salinity and moisture. Herbal products are of great demand now a days because of their internal requirement and export potential. Our studies indicate that essential oil bearing crops like palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii), lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus), vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides), and medicinal plants like chamomile (Matricaria chamomila), Vinca (Catharanthus roseous), marigold (Tegetes minuta), senna (Cassia angustifolia), Isabgol (Plantago ovata) and some high value crops give higher returns in soil and moisture stress soils as compared to traditional agricultural crops. Similarly some crops withstand water logging and moisture stress to a higher degree. Many of these crops have significant soil amelioration potential. This paper deals with the results of some experiments conducted on tolerance, growth performance and profitability of some medicinal and aromatic crops under moisture stress condition vis-a-vis socioeconomic and environmental implications.
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