Particulate Matter Accumulation on Apples and Plums: Roads Do Not Represent the Greatest Threat

Arkadiusz Przybysz,Andrzej Stępniak,Monika Małecka-Przybysz,Chunyang Zhu,Marzena Wińska-Krysiak

doi:10.3390/agronomy10111709

Abstract

Particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of solid and liquid substances of organic and inorganic character suspended in air. Plants are used as biological filters of air. However, PM can be deposited on their edible parts, with a negative effect on people’s health. The aim of this study was to document the PM accumulation on apples and plums harvested from orchards located alongside roads with differing amounts of traffic. Plums accumulated more PM than apples. The deposition of PM on apples increased during fruit development and was highest at harvest. The impact of road type, traffic intensity, and distance from the road on PM accumulation on fruit was small. The least PM was adsorbed by apples harvested from an orchard located close to a road with the highest traffic, while in the case of plums, no effect of the road on PM deposition was recorded. The amount of PM accumulated on fruits depended on the species (fruit morphology, harvest period), activities undertaken in the orchard (early pruning exposes fruits to PM, ecological preparations increase fruit viscosity), and sources of pollution other than the roads located close to the orchard. Washing fruits with water removed half of the accumulated PM.

Highlights

Air pollution represents an increasing threat to human health and one of the most dangerous inhaled pollutants is particulate matter (PM) [1]
The results obtained in this study suggest that Particulate matter (PM) is deposited on apples and plums harvested from orchards located close to roads with different traffic intensities
The amount of PM deposited on fruits is comparable to or higher than that on the foliage of trees and shrubs growing in polluted city centres

Summary

Introduction

Air pollution represents an increasing threat to human health and one of the most dangerous inhaled pollutants is particulate matter (PM) [1]. PM is a mixture of solid and liquid substances of organic and inorganic character suspended in air. It comes from a wide range of natural (forest fires, volcanic activity, dust storm) and anthropogenic (domestic heating, incomplete combustion of fuels in car engines, abrasion of roads and tyres, industrial or construction activities) sources [2]. The contents of risk elements bound to PM particles vary depending on the site, source, traffic level, seasonal variability and meteorological parameters [4], and include numerous hazardous components such us toxic or carcinogenic trace elements [4,5], polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [4,6], and pesticides [7]

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