Seasonal Variation of Leaf Dust Accumulation and Biochemical Parameters of Selected Plant Species Alongside the National Highway-7 in Sirmaur, H.P, India

Jyotsana Pandit,Anish Sharma,Satish Bhardwaj,Anil Sood

doi:10.12944/cwe.12.2.26

Abstract

The present study was carried out to assess the dust interception efficiency and impact of dust deposition on biochemical parameters of plant species growing alongside National Highway (NH-7) at Sirmaur, H.P, India. Plants are universal sink of CO2. The plant species selected for the study were Ficus roxburghii, Mallotus philippensis, Shorea robusta, Woodfordia fruticosa. The observed trend of dust accumulation was in the order Ficus roxburghii (38.30 mg m-2) > Shorea robusta (26.94 mg m-2),> Mallotus philippensis (22.31 mg m-2) > Woodfordia fruticosa (16.70 mg m-2). The present study revealed, that the leaf dust accumulation decreased with increasing distance from the national highway. Leaf dust accumulation was influenced by the seasons of the year with the maximum (30.70) in pre-monsoon and the minimum(21.42) in post-monsoon season.

Highlights

Atmospheric particulate matter represents a complex mixture of organic and inorganic substances of varying size and may enter an organism or plant in a number of ways
Roadside vegetation communities are greatly affected by the dust from highways and roads due to changes induced in biochemical parameters
Minimum dust was noticed in Woodfordia fruticosa (16.70 mg m-2) which was at par with Mallotus philippensis (16.70)

Summary

Introduction

Atmospheric particulate matter represents a complex mixture of organic and inorganic substances of varying size and may enter an organism or plant in a number of ways. Vegetation provides a natural means of cleaning the atmosphere with large leaf area for impingement, absorption and accumulation of air pollutants level in the environment (Das and Prasad, 2010)[9].Reduction has been measured in photosynthetic pigments due to deposition of particulate matters on the upper surface of the leaves (Karmakar et al 2016)[11].It is well evident from the previous studies that the contents of chlorophyll, ascorbic acid, protein and carbohydrate are affected due to the air pollution (Hoque et al, 200711 ; Flowers et al, 200712).Various biochemical studies of foliar tissues has reported decrease in chlorophyll content and the increase in ascorbic acid content as a result of air pollution.

Results

Conclusion