Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

DETERMINATION OF AIR POLLUTION TOLERANCE INDEX IN DOMINANT PLANT SPECIES IN THE REGION OF KHUZESTAN STEEL, IRAN

Ebrahim Fani, Seyed Mansour Seyednejad, Nezam Armand and Mozhan Vafaei

Abstract

In the present study an area around the steel industry considered as polluted area in order to assess the tolerance of two plant species (Including: Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Prosopis juliflora) to industrial pollutants, The air pollution tolerance index (APTI) was determined for these species in a polluted site (Khuzestan Steel). Air pollution tolerance index was measured by four factors, including chlorophyll content, acidity of the leaf extract, ascorbic acid content and relative water content of the leaf tissue. The results of this study showed that experimented plants, were subjected to pollution stress and changed their physiological factors in a different ways. Index measured 6.29 and 9.17 for Prosopis juliflora and Eucalyptus camaldulensis respectively. The estimation of APTI value indicated that two considered species are sensitive to pollution and could be used as indicators of air pollution.