Assessment of air pollutants and pollution tolerant tree species for the development of Greenbelt at Narasapura Industrial Estate, India

Abstract

In this study, we assessed the concentration of air pollutants to understand the pollution status of the Narasapura industrial area located in India. Also, we identified pollution-tolerant tree species for the development of greenbelts for NIA. Monthly air samples were collected from three sites from NIA and the samples were analysed for the determination of air pollutant concentration following standard methods. Air pollutants such as PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, Pb, CO, NH3, and O3 were detected and their concentrations for the three sites ranged from 21 to 99 μg/m3, 11 to 67 μg/m3, 3 to 14 μg/m3, 5 to 28 μg/m3, 0.01 to 0.9 μg/m3, 0.3 to 0.9 mg/m3, 3 to 17 μg/m3, 6 to 25 μg/m3, respectively. Twenty common tree species to NIA were selected and their air pollution tolerance potential was determined by the Air pollution tolerance index using leaf relative water content, total chlorophyll content, leaf extract pH, and ascorbic acid content. Tree species, Spathodea campanulata (9.58 ± 0.33) recorded maximum APTI value followed by Terminalia catappa, Tabebuia avellanedae, Anthocephalus cadamba, and Syzygium jambos. We conclude that the development of greenbelts is necessary for the mitigation of air pollutants.

Keywords

• Air pollutants
• PM10
• PM2.5
• APTI
• spathodea campanulata
• greenbelts