1 EFFECTS OF SEA WATER SALINITY ON THE GROWTH OF VETIVER GRASS (CHRYSOPOGON ZIZANIOIDES L.)

Vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) has the ability to adapt and develop in many different environments and to recover quickly from the disadvantaged conditions of the environment. It can absorb large amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and dissolved heavy metals in the environment. To date studies on salt tolerance of vetiver grasses have been conducted mainly in the soil environment, and very limited in the aquatic environment. Therefore, a full study on sea water salinity tolerance of vetiver is needed to solve problems of pollution in estuaries- where water quality is often affected by the activities of human and industrial, agricultural productions, which have increasingly become more acute. This paper presents results of research on the growth of vetiver affected by the level of sea water salinity. The research results showed that vetiver grass is capable of growing in sea water salinity ranging from 0-19.64 dS/m (0-11 ‰)