Air pollution tolerance, anticipated performance, and metal accumulation indices of plant species for greenbelt development in urban industrial area

Abstract

The present study was performed on Shorea robusta Gaertn., Acacia auriculiformis Benth., Eucalyptus globulus Labill., Azadirachta indica A. Juss in two tropical forests [including one (Barjora), situated adjacent to heavy pollution sources and the other, as control, Ballavpur Wildlife Sanctuary (BWLS)] of West Bengal, India, to measure the heavy metals accumulation capacity in their leaves and their levels of tolerance in a polluted environment. Site wise and seasonal variations in air pollution tolerance index (APTI) and anticipated performance index (API) were assessed in the aforesaid four plants. Highest APTI value was observed in S. robusta (34.62 ± 1.47) at polluted site during winter. S. robusta anticipated as an excellent performer on the basis of API score in all the three seasons in BWLS. The metal accumulation index (MAI) values ranged from 3.06 to 7.68 and 9.48–9.82; 2.65–4.96 and 4.29–6.08; 3.35–8.14 and 5.04–11.65; 3.59–4.64 and 5.21–7.98 at BWLS and Barjora forest for S. robusta, A. auriculiformis, E. globulus and A. indica respectively. Two-way ANOVA test showed a site and season wise significant difference in the biochemical and physiological parameters between the two forests. The results indicated that air pollution played an important role, which affected the biochemical and physiological parameters of plants in tropical forest located at a polluted site. The species with highest MAI and APTI value could be used in sound green space management for reducing the levels of atmospheric pollution. Higher levels of ascorbic acid content, at polluted site as compared to control site, were an indication of stress condition.