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Life Science Archives (LSA)

ISSN: 2454-1354

Volume – 1; Issue - 3; Year – 2015; Page: 200 - 203

©2015 Published by JPS Scientific Publications Ltd. All rights reserved

Research Article

A DETAILED STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF AIR POLLUTION ON

CERTAIN PHYSICAL AND BIO CHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF

Mangifera indica PLANT

V. Seshadri1, C. Sivasubramanian

1, P. Satheeshkumar

1, M. Jeganathan

2 and Balakumari

2

1Department of Environmental and Herbal Science, Tamil University, Thanjavur - 613 010, Tamil Nadu,

India 2Designed Environment Academy and Research Institute, Trichy - 621 213, Tamil Nadu, India.

E.mail: jegann1978@gmail.com

Abstract

The alleviation measures to control CKD pollution at the sources are limited by economic, political

and technical implications beyond the control of most agriculturists. So they are entrusted to grow their crop

in an atmosphere containing certain levels of ambient particulate pollutants. Since the crop selected in the

present study is the top most economically important crop, it is desirable to investigate them in the polluted

environment. Hence, the tolerant crop selected among the plants growing in the cement dust affected area is

Mangifera indica. The chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll and carotenoid levels of the sampled

plants were estimated. The amount of total chlorophyll in affected leaves was 4.9996 mg/g and that of

control leaves was 5.7220 mg/g. Article History Received : 16.04.2015

Revised : 23.05.2015

Accepted : 27.05.2015

Key words: Air pollution, Mangifera indica,

Physical parameters and Biochemical parameters.

1. Introduction The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the

genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical

fruiting trees in the flowering plant family

Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to South Asia,

from where it has been distributed worldwide to

become one of the most cultivated fruits in the tropics.

While other Mangifera species (e.g. horse mango, M.

foetida) are also grown on a more localized

basis, Mangifera indica – the 'common mango' or

'Indian mango' – is the only mango tree commonly

cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. It

is the national fruit of India, Philippines and Pakistan.

* Corresponding author: V. Seshadri, Department of

Environmental and Herbal Science, Tamil University,

Thanjavur

In several cultures, its fruit and leaves are ritually used

as floral decorations at weddings, public celebrations

and religious ceremonies.

The TANCEM Cement Industry is located

at Ariylaur District, Tamil Nadu and situated 250

km South East of Madras and 65 km North East

of Trichy. Ariyalur is known for limestone bed

rocks of cretaceous period (Chandrasekaran and

Ramkumar, 1994). The raw material for the

cement production, limestone is mined in the

locality of TANCEM Ariyalur which covers an

area of 2325 sq.km (Edwin Chandrasekaran et al.,

1995). Different marks of cement have been

produced in this plant with a total volume of

output 5 lakhs tonnes during the period when our

investigation was carried out. The plantation is

V. Seshadri / Life Science Archives (LSA), Volume – 1, Issue – 3, Page – 200 to 203, 2015 201

©2015 Published by JPS Scientific Publications Ltd. All rights reserved

located at a distance of 3 km. towards South from

the cement dust emission source. The continuous

dust fallout from TANCEM cement plant results

in the deposition of cement kiln exhaust on

Mangifera indica in this plantation during mid

October to end of December(2014). The control

plots are situated on the relatively unpolluted area

at a distance of 15 km (Kadukur) towards east of

main cement manufacturing plant.

2. Materials and Method

Cement kiln exhaust in the form of dust

emission settle on the soil and vegetation

surrounding the cement factory and causes

pollution problems.

Plant Materials

Mangifera indica growing around the

TANCEM cement plant Ariyalur are constantly

subjected to the deposition of cement kiln

exhausts. The control plants are situated on the

relatively unpolluted area (Kadukur).

Estimation of Chlorophyll

Arnon (1949) methodology was used to

estimate the chlorophyll contents. Leaf tissue

weighing 200 mg of the controlled and affected

leaves was homogenized in 80 % pre chilled

acetone in diffused light using a mortar & pestle.

The pellet was homogenized once again in acetone

and centrifuged the process was repeated until the

pellet turned non-green. The supernatants were

pooled and the volume was measured, and the

absorption at 663 nm and 645 nm were read on a

spectrophotometer. The amount of chlorophyll

was calculated. The amount of chlorophyll present

in the leaf extract in mg chlorophyll tissue was

calculated using following equations.

mg chlorophyll a/g tissue = 12.7 (A663) -

2.69 (A645) × V/(1000 × w)

mg chlorophyll b/g tissue = 22.9 (A645) -

4.68 (A663) × V/(1000 × w)

mg chlorophyll total time = 20.2 (A645) +

8.02 (A663) × V/(1000 × w)

Where,

A = Absorbance at specific wave lengths

V = Final volume of chlorophyll extract in

80% acetone

w = fresh weight of the tissue extracted.

Carotenoid analysis

The total carotenoid content was also

measured from the previous extractions of

chlorophylls at 473 nm using an extinction co-

efficient value of 2500 as an average value,

(OD645) – (0.114), (OD663) – (0.638) (Goodwin

1954).

Analysis of plant extract

The given plant samples were extracted

analyzed different components present in the

extract with Soil testing laboratory (Using High

perform liquid chromatography).

Principle and application of Gas

chromatograph-Mass detector (GC-MS) in

Phyto-chemical analysis

GC-MS plays a key role in the analysis of

unknown components of plant origin. GC-MS

Ionizes compounds and measures their mass

numbers. Ionization method includes EI (Electron

Ionization) and CI (Chemical Ionization).

Typically, the CI method is used. The EI method

produces ions by colliding thermal electrons

emitted from a filament with sample gas

molecules. This method provides high stability in

ionization and the obtained mass spectra show

good reproducibility. The EI method provides

good results for quantitative analysis as well.

Quantization with GC-MS, in which only ions

specific to the compounds are measured, is highly

selective method without interfering components.

3. Result and Discussion

The tolerant crop selected among the

plants growing in the cement dust affected area is

Mangifera indica. The chlorophyll a, chlorophyll

b, total chlorophyll and carotenoid levels of the

sampled plants were estimated and the results are

tabulated in Table – 1 The amount of total

chlorophyll in affected leaves was 4.9996 mg/g

and that of control leaves was 5.7220 mg/g.

Similarly in the various

biochemical components of the control and

affected leaves of Mangifera indica was tabulated.

Marked change is seen in the total phosphorus,

total sulphur, total alkaloids & tannin content. A

marked increase is seen in the content of total

calcium, sodium, zinc & copper content.

V. Seshadri / Life Science Archives (LSA), Volume – 1, Issue – 3, Page – 200 to 203, 2015 202

©2015 Published by JPS Scientific Publications Ltd. All rights reserved

Table – 1: Chlorophyll Estimation

Sam

ple

s

Ch

loro

ph

yll

a

(mg/g

)

Ch

loro

ph

yll

b

(mg/g

)

Tota

l

Ch

loro

ph

yll

(mg/g

)

Caro

ten

oid

s

(g/l

it)

Control

leaf 1.9003 3.8214 5.7220 2.3262

Affected

leaf 1.3184 3.6812 4.9996 2.4118

Table – 2: Biochemical analysis of Control &

Affected leaves

S.

No

Name of the

parameter

Sample Details

Mangifera indica

Affected Control

1. Ash (%) 2.08 2.19

2. Organic Carbon (%) 3.19 2.18

3. Total Nitrogen (%) 0.89 0.87

4 Total Phosphorus (%) 0.25 0.31

5. Total Potassium (%) 2.79 2.54

6. Total Sodium (%) 0.12 0.09

7. Total Calcium (%) 3.42 3.01

8. Total Magnesium (%) 1.92 1.61

9. Total Sulphur (%) 0.12 0.15

10. Total Zinc (ppm) 2.79 2.48

11. Total Copper (ppm) 0.19 0.16

12. Total Iron (ppm) 16.78 19.49

13. Total Manganese

(ppm)

4.29 4.19

14. Total Boron (ppm) 0.06 0.04

15. Total Molybenum

(ppm)

0.02 0.02

16. Total Alkaloids (mg

kg-1

)

0.58 0.64

17. Total flavonoids (mg

kg-1

)

0.15 0.19

18. Tannin (mg kg-1

) 0.29 0.34

19. Lignin (mg kg-1

) 0.15 0.19

20. Glycosides (mg kg-1

) 0.09 0.09

21 Serpentines (mg kg-1

) 0.06 0.06

22. Heavy Metals Nil Nil

Fly ash comprises divided particles of ash

entrained in flue gases arising from combustion of

coal. The size of fly ash particles may vary from

0.02 m to over 300 m. It contains incompletely

burned coal and the carbon content of fly ash may

vary from 5 to 20%, though some samples may

contain as high as 50%. Also a large number of

minerals, originally present in the coal, may also

occur in fly ash (Thangarasu,2002). Cement manufacturing industries have

found to contribute substantially to the air

pollution problem as point source of emission.

Fallout of cement factory emission is determined

by several factors. Such as variations in cement

manufacturing process, efficiency of emission

control devices, and meteorological and

topographical conditions, vegetation and soil are

also important sinks for air borne pollutants. In

India, high dust fall rates around cement factories

have been reported by several workers (Agarwal,

1997). Considering the fast companion of the

cement manufacturing industries in the country

and limited information available about the

temporal variations in particulate matter an

attempt has been made to evaluate the spatial and

temporal variations in concentration of particulate

matter around a cement factory situated in a

seasonally dry typical area.

Fly ash is a fairly stable pollutant and it

accumulates in the environment through

deposition on surfaces of materials and plants. It

reduces the visibility in the atmosphere absorbs

and scatters light, and reduces the quantum of

solar radiations reaching the plants. Fly ash may

affect vegetation directly through deposition on

leaf surfaces and indirectly through accumulation

in the soil medium.

Plants play an important role in monitoring

the ecological balance by actively participating in

the cycling of nutrients, gases and fly ash.

Sensitivity of plants to air pollutant is variable. Air

pollution effects on plants have been known as a

number of morphologhical and anatomical studies

(Chaudhari, 2000; Chaudhari, 1984; Tiwari, 1993;

Roa, 1975; Bechula, 1980; Parthasarathy. 1975;

Singh, 2002).

On comparing the biochemical

compounds of the leaf material of Mangifera

indica grown in control & affected area, it is very

clear that the chlorophyll content a, b total

chlorophyll and carotenoid content have got

reduced due to the deposition of the particulate

matter emitted from the cement plant. Further it is

very clear that the dust has added the calcium &

sodium to a considerable extent in the affected

V. Seshadri / Life Science Archives (LSA), Volume – 1, Issue – 3, Page – 200 to 203, 2015 203

©2015 Published by JPS Scientific Publications Ltd. All rights reserved

leave, which is also due to the nature and chemical

composition of the cement. Thus it is true

effective measures if not taken towards the

reduction of pollution in terms of dust; it will not

only affect the plant species but also the living

organisms. Hence, the following suggestions are

given with the aim of reducing the dust pollution.

4. Conclusion

Ariyalur, known as cement city is

surrounded by cement factories and limestone

mines. These act as the sources of dust and

particulates in and around the living place. To

know about the extent of dust pollution, a

common plant Mangifera indica was found to be

one of the plants which are higher in number. The

chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, and

carotenoid content of the leaves have found to

decrease in the leaves of the plant grown in areas

exposed to dust when compared with control

plant, grown in unpolluted areas.

Similarly, the other components such as

calcium, sodium, manganese magnesium, zinc got

increased in the affected plant. Certain parameters

such as alkaloids, flavonoids, tannin, lignin have

got decreased in its quantity in case of affected

plant. Thus, the effect of the cement dust on one of

the commonest plant Mangifera indica has been

studied. It is clear that the cement dust affects

certain biochemical components.

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