Abstract
Green house gases pollute the atmosphere and cause global warming which has become a worldwide environmental problem. In order to evaluate the ability of plants to absorb such gases, the air pollution tolerance indices (APTI) of some plants around an industrial complex in Nigeria, were determined. The total chlorophyll, ascorbic acid, pH, and relative water content of the leaf extracts of Mangifera indica, Delonix regia, Bougainvillea spectabilis, Ixora coccinea, Anacardium occidentale and Duranta erecta were used to determine the APTI. Delonix regia gave significantly (p<0.05) highest APTI (5.308 ± 0.090), followed by Bougainvillea spectabilis (4.904 ± 0.001) and Duranta erecta (4.577 ± 0.166). Anacardium occidentale had the lowest (3.470 ± 0.001). Delonix regia was comparatively the most tolerant to air pollution. It is suggested that plants with high APTI values should be grown near pollution - prone areas to absorb and thus, screen off certain harmful gaseous pollutants which contribute to green house effect, global warming and climate change. Key words: Air pollution tolerance index, ascorbic acid, chlorophyll, pH, water, plants.
Highlights
Emission of green house gases is one of the major problems arising from human population explosion and industrialization
Many workers like Chauhan (2010), Singh et al (1991), Abida and Harikrishna (2010) and Sirajuddin and Ravichandran (2010) used ascorbic acid, chlorophyll, relative water content and leaf extract pH to evaluate the susceptibility of some plants to air pollutants by computing these four physiological parameters together in a formation signifying their air pollution tolerance index (APTI)
The results demonstrate that different plant species respond in different ways to air pollution and the same plant species growing in different environments may respond differently, depending on the level of air pollution in the habitat
Summary
Emission of green house gases is one of the major problems arising from human population explosion and industrialization. The use of fossil fuels such as petroleum hydrocarbons and coal for transport, electricity generation for industries and households; land clearing, deforestation, agriculture and land use, produce large quantities of oxides of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur, as well as methane, aerosol particulates, etc. These pollute the environment; destroy the atmospheric ozone shield that protects organisms from high levels of ultraviolet radiation, resulting in global warming and climate change (IPCC, 2007). Ascorbic acid is an antioxidant, which contributes in protecting the plants against oxidative
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