Study of air pollution using the leaves of some plant species from two cities in Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

The comparative study of air quality in two cities in the Niger Delta Region of Delta State, Nigeria was investigated. Eleven duplicates of fully matured leaves samples of Vernonia amygdalina, Magnifera indica, Citrius sinesis, Psidium guajava, Colocasia esculanta L., Anacadium occidentale, Carica papaya L., Elais guinensis, Bambosa Bambosa, Delonix regia and Musa paradisiacal L. cultivated in Agbarho metropolis in Ughelli North local government area and Osubi metropolis in Okpe local government area both of Delta State were randomly collected and analyzed for their ascorbic acid content, water retention capacity, chlorophyll and pH. Data from this study reveals higher relative water and chlorophyll content in experimental site as compared to the control site. This study further reveals that about 82% of plant species collected from the experimental sites showed higher ascorbic acid and pH content. While the air pollution tolerance index values were higher in experimental site as compared to those from the control site, the percentage increase in APTI values in the leaves of the plant species ranges from 5.42 to 26.49. The plant species under investigation shows increasing tolerance to air pollution in the order of Vernonia amygdalina (5.42) > Magnifera indica (6.54) > Citrius sinesis (6.69) > Psidium guajava (7.13) > Colocasia esculanta L. (7.61) > Anacadium occidentale (7.93) > Carica papaya L. (11.46) > Elais guinensis (16.20) > Bambosa bambosa (22.00) > Delonix regia (26.01) > Musa paradisiacal L. (26.49). Though, this study reveals conflicting results for the individual biochemical parameters to the tolerance of air pollution in both experimental and control sites, combining the various biochemical parameters for computing the APTI values gives more reliable results. Hence, a relationship is not only observed in the accumulation of chemical substance used in determining the extent of damage done by pollution in the leaves of all the plant species under investigation, but a gradient also exist for the individual parameters in the experimental sites as compared to those from the control sites and it is thus reflected in the APTI values recorded from both sites.

Keywords: Air, APTI, Ascorbic Acid, Biochemical, Delta State, Pollution Water retention capacity