Effects of Air Pollution on Biochemical Properties of Plant Species

Generally, gaseous pollutants move into the atmosphere, displace and affect the quality of air. Air pollution can directly affect plant via leaves or indirectly via soil acidification. Most plant experienced physiological changes before exhibiting visible damage to leaves when exposed to air pollutants. The present study was aimed at determining the impact of ambient air quality on some biological factors in the leaves of twenty plant species using two sites as indices for measuring the extent of environmental pollution. Hence, air pollution tolerant index, in relation with the four biochemical characteristic has been used to rank plant species in the order of tolerance to air pollution.The data from this study revealed that combining a variety of biochemical parameters could give a more reliable result than those air pollution tolerance classifications based on a single biochemical parameter. This study showed that Proline alone cannot be used to measure air pollution since results obtained did not follow any particular pattern. This study was able to demonstrate using the APTI characteristic that pollution gradient exists between the Urban and the sub-urban region.