JAGDEEP KAUR PARIHAR, YOGESH B. PAKADE AND JATINDER KAUR KATNORIA
Abstract
Ever-increasing exploitation of the natural resources has arisen a number of environmental issues with air pollution being the prime one. Overutilization of motor vehicles with their improper handling and lack of safe emission standards, mostly in developing countries, have further resulted the contamination of surrounding air. Plants, on the other hand, can combat the air pollution to a great extent. Plants, being sessile, are under the great exposure to these toxic contaminants throughout their life span. However, only those plants which are resistant to pollution can grow under harsh conditions of pollution. Keeping this in mind, a study was planned to determine the air pollution tolerance index (APTI) of the plant species commonly occurring on the roadside of four different sites viz., bus stand, railway station, a flyover bridge and Guru Nanak Dev University of Amritsar city, Punjab (India). Different physico-chemical parameters viz., pH, conductivity, alkalinity, water holding capacity, calcium, magnesium, chlorides, nitrates, phosphates, sodium, potassium and heavy metals (cadmium, cobalt, copper and lead) of soil samples were analyzed. All the samples were found to be alkaline (pH: 7.31 - 8.49). The order of content of heavy metals in roadside soils followed the pattern as: lead (11.96 to 68.82 mg/Kg) > copper (8.03 to 62.95 mg/Kg) > cobalt (3.33 to 8.02 mg/Kg) > cadmium (0.86 to 1.06 mg/Kg). The plant species, on the basis of APTI score were categorized as very sensitive (<1), sensitive (1 16), intermediate (17 29) and tolerant species (30 - 100). In the present study, Jatropha panduraefolia, Thevetia peruviana and Hamelia patens were found to be intermediately tolerant while Cannabis sativa was found to be sensitive species.