Dust Arresting Capacity and its Impact on
Physiological Parameter of the Plants
Manisha1, Suresh Pandian E.2 and A. K. Pal3
1
Ph.D scholar, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 826004, India
2
Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 826004, India
3
Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 826004, India
Abstract: Air borne dust particles represent a complex mixture of organic and inorganic
substances of varying shape and size seems to be a very serious problem in respect to organism
and plant health. Sources of dust pollution include agriculture related activities, power plants,
cement factories, etc. Vegetation is considered as a sink and abatement measures for both
particulates and gaseous pollutants. Dust arresting capability of plants depends on their range of
characteristics which include outside geometry, phyllotaxy and leaf attributes (cuticle and
pubescence of leaves), tallness and canopy of plants. Leaves characteristics like surface,
epicuticular wax, cuticle, epidermis, size of stomata and stomatal density are the most important
factors controlling the amount of captured dust. But dust capturing capacity of leaves make it
more prone to various physiological losses.
Various studies have reported a serious setback in plant physiology due to the effect of dust load.
Dust particles are reported to be absorbed through the outer surface of the plants showing some
common effects such as chlorophyll degradation, necrosis, and reduction in photosynthesis and
decline in growth. Small size particles had greater shading effect than larger particle. Dust
deposition may vary with season, different plant species and source of pollution. This study aims
to investigate the dust load and its physical effects of dust accumulation on leaf physiology
parameter, as a way to better understand the impact of dust on plant.
Keywords: Dust, Chlorophyll, Carotenoids, Stomata
1. INTRODUCTION
Atmospheric deposition is an important mechanism controlling the fate of toxic airborne pollutants
and their transfer from the atmosphere to the natural surfaces. Vegetation cover is first available
surface for most atmospheric pollutants as they are deposited on terrestrial ecosystems. Plants take
up gaseous pollutants through their stomata and intercept particulate matter with their leaves.
Plants as monitor of air pollution has long been reputable, as plants are the first interceptors of air
pollutants.Dust particles can be absorbed into the tree, though most particles that are intercepted
are retained on the leaf surface [7]. Dust interception capacity of leaves depends on their surface
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Manisha, Suresh Pandian E. and A.K. Pal
geometry, phyllotaxy, leaf external characteristics (such as hairs, cuticle, etc.), and height and
canopy of trees. Leaf orientation and the sessile or semisessile nature of leaves surface play
significant roles in dust deposition as they determine the surface available for dust deposition [4,
11].
Dust deposited on the leaf surface gives a shading effect to leaves and block stomata as well as
light penetration through dust particle. The amount of light absorbed by a leaf is a function of the
photosynthetic pigment content; thus, chlorophyll content can directly determine photosynthetic
potential and primary production [3].Various studies reveal dust deposition on the leaves surface
reduce photosynthetic pigment. Through this study an attempt has been made to study the dust
retaining capacity and different physiological impact of dust on Ficus religosa and Ficus
benghalensis
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Study site
Bokaro Thermal Power Station is coal based power plants located at Bokaro district in Jharkhand,
44 km from Bokaro steel city and is extended from 23o47’07 latitude and 85°52’48΄ longitude with
a subtropical climate. This power plant is one of the coal based power plant of DVC and has an
installed capacity of 630 MW having three units of 210 MW each. Residential colonies are situated
in the surrounding of thermal power plants and covered with to native plants.
2.2 Methodology
This research study was conducted during summer and winter season in October, 2013 and
January, 2014. Two common species Ficus religosa and Ficus benghalensis were selected for the
sampling from the vicinity of Bokaro thermal power plant. The selection of these species was made
because of their contrasting leaf characteristics. The plants were selected based on the commonness
and their tolerance capacity for dust pollution reported by various authors during their research
study. Sampling of leaves was done in triplicate manner for each species and three leaves from
each.
The leaves were carefully removed from the branches and were put in polythene bags and brought
back to the laboratory. The leaves were carefully taken out from the bags and dust present on the
leaves was cleaned using a fine brush in 50 ml of distilled water. Dusts collected in the distilled
water were filtered through whatman filter. Individual leaf area was calculated by tracing out the
leaves on graph paper. Amount of dust per unit area was calculated using the equation W = (Wd-
Wb)/A, where W is dust content (g/cm2), Wd is weight of filter paper with dust, Wb is initial weight
of blank filter paper and A is total area of the leaf (cm2). Chlorophyll and carotenoids were
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Dust Arresting Capacity and its Impact on Physiological Parameter of the Plants
extracted in 80% acetone from leaves and the amount of chlorophyll a, b, and total, were quantified
spectrophotometrically following [1].
3. RESULTS
3.1 Dust deposition
Based on the above methodology, the dust deposition on Ficus religosa and Ficus benghalensis
was evaluated on seasonal basis (summer and winter) as shown in Table 1 and Fig. 1.
Table 1 Seasonal average of dust accumulation in different plants under study
Dust deposited (g/cm2 leaf area)
Plant species winter summer
Ficus religosa 0.566 ± 0.144 0.073±0.008
Ficus benghalensis 0.307 ±0.267 0.069±0.020
0.6
Dust load g/ cm2 of leaf
0.5
0.4
0.3 Winter
0.2 Summer
0.1
0
Ficus benghalensis Ficus religosa
Fig. 1: Variation in dust load in different season
It was observed that all plants showed higher dust deposit in winter and lowest in summer season.
The average seasonal dust accumulation in different plants under study is presented in Table1. It
shows that F. benghalensis to have better dust retention capacity than F. religosa in both season
winter and summer.
3.2 Pigment content
The seasonal variations in pigment concentration of F. religosa and F. benghalensis under study are
presented in Fig 2. The results showed that the pigment contents (total chlorophyll; chlorophyll a;
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Manisha, Suresh Pandian E. and A.K. Pal
chlorophyll b; and carotenoid) were maximum in summer season and minimum in winter season.
In summer season F. benghalensis, chlorophyll a content is higher but other three pigment types
were minimum than F.religosa, whether in winter season chlorophyll a content is maximum in F.
benghalensis and rest others pigments content is minimum than in F. religosa.
2.00
pigment content (mg/gmleaf)
1.80
1.60
1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80 Ficus religosa
0.60
0.40 Ficus benghalensis
0.20
0.00
Summer Winter Summer Winter Summer Winter Summer Winter
Chlorophyll a Chlorophyll b Total chlorophyll Cartenoids
Fig. 2: Seasonal variation in pigment content of plant species
4. DISCUSSION
This work illustrates the significant variation in dust accumulation in two different species at same
locations near Bokaro thermal power plant. Dust load was maximum during winter season on both
species and minimum in summer. Different kinds of factors, such as leaf uniqueness, i.e., form and
size, orientation, surface texture, occurrence/lack of leaf hairs, petioles length, etc., air current and
its speed, climatic conditions and anthropogenic actions affect the dust interception and
accumulation capacity of different plants. F. benghalensis having short petioles and thick hairy
leaves showed the most dust accumulation capacity as compared with F. religosa which had long-
leaves stalks. Air movement easily disturbs leaves having thin lamina, smooth surfaces, and long
petioles. Consequently such leaves can hold lesser amounts of dust while thick leaves having rough
surfaces or hairs on the surface and short petioles can hold large amount of dust and hence are
better collectors of dust [8, 9]. In the present research study variation in pigment of leaf is
prominently higher during summer than winter season this may be due to less dust accumulation
during summer than winter season. Dust load puts shading effect on plants which reduce
availability of light for photosynthesis and diffusion of air is affected by blocking stomatal
openings [5, 6, 1]. Reduction in pigments can be due to the drop in pigment synthesis due to the
shading effect. The study showed reduction in both chlorophyll and carotenoid content, indicating
that the dust accumulation has an effect on the all the pigments present in leaves.
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Dust Arresting Capacity and its Impact on Physiological Parameter of the Plants
5. CONCLUSION
Dust arresting capacity of plants differs significantly due to differences in their leaf surface
characteristics such as epicuticular wax, cuticle, epidermis, stomata and the trichomes. Leaf
orientation, leaves surface play important roles in dust deposition as they determine the surface
available for dust deposition. This study reveals that dust retaining capacity of F. benghalensis is
maximum than F. religosa and dust deposited on the surface of leaves reduce photosynthetic
pigment of leaves.
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