Screening Azalea Cultivars for Sensitivity to Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulfur Dioxide, and Ozone Alone and in Mixtures1

Abstract

Abstract Eight cultivars of azalea were tested for sensitivity to 0.25 ppm of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3), alone and in mixture. Sixty-eight days after pruning, the 1 yr-old liner plants were exposed to the pollutants for 6, 3-hr fumigations over a 4 week period. Cultivars demonstrated a range of sensitivity (tolerant to moderately sensitive) based on both visible injury and growth. Neither NO2 nor SO2 (alone and in combination) induced foliar injury on any of the cultivars. Ozone and mixtures of O3 with NO2 and/or SO2 induced small amounts of injury (10% or less) to foliage of ‘Pink Gumpo’, ‘Mme. Pericat’ and ‘Red Wing’. ‘Red Luann’, ‘Glacier’, and ‘Hershey Red’, sustained >10% foliar injury from mixture treatments containing O3. No significant interactions among NO2, SO2, and O3 were detected by measurements of plant weight. The pollutants did not change the weight of leaves or stems of ‘Pink Gumpo’ and ‘Mme. Pericat’. Significant weight loss occurred in leaves or stems from exposure of ‘Hershey Red’, ‘Red Luann’, and ‘Red Wing’ to treatments containing O3 and from exposure of ’Mrs. G. G. Gerbing’, ‘Glacier’, and ‘Red Luann’ to treatments containing SO2.