Effect of Air Pollutants in Biochemical Parameters of Selected Plant Species of Jhansi City (Uttar Pradesh)

Though water and land pollution is very dangerous, air pollution has its own peculiarities, due to its transboundary dispersion of pollutants over the entire world. Air pollution is one of the serious problems faced by the people globally, especially in urban areas of developing countries like India. All these in turn lead to an increase in the air pollution levels and have adverse effects on the health of people and plants. Variations in biochemical parameters can be used as indicators of air pollution. Analysis data reveals that SPM and RSPM level were exponentially higher during winter season. The concentration of SO2 and NOx was greatly influenced by the automobile emission. Higher concentration of SO2 and NOx was found in commercial area as well as heavy traffic street area while NOx concentration was found higher than SO2. The content of chlorophyll in all the seasons in plants was higher in residential area than commercial area and heavy traffic street area. The average pheophytin content in plant leaves at all the location in winter was higher than chlorophyll content, which indicates the conversion of chlorophyll to pheophytin or reduced biosynthesis. Carotenoids content was maximum in monsoon and minimum in winter at all locations. Protein content was highest in both plants species in monsoon at all the locations, and the minimum reduction was found in both plants in winter at all the locations where the pollution level was comparatively high. POD activity was lowest in monsoon and highest in winter at all the locations. An increase in POD activity was observed at commercial and heavy traffic street location comparison to residential locations. This study observed the effect of air pollution on Peepal (Ficus religiosa) and Ashok (Polyalthia longifolia) as well as the suitability of selected plants as intermediate tolerant species to pollution.