Urban Air Quality and Pollution Tolerance of Roadside Trees in Delhi: An APTI Approach

¹ Amity Food and Agriculture Foundation, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India, 201313, India
² Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, Siwaya-Jamalullapur, Uttar Pradesh 250341, India

Abstract

The study aim was to investigated air pollution tolerance capacity in selected 7 tree species (Azadirachta indica, Alstonia scholaris, Ficus relegiosa, Terminalia arjuna, Ficus infectoria, Cassia Fistula, and Polyalthea) at different polluted (Anand Vihar and NTPC Badarpur) and non-polluted (Lutyens area, IARI Pusa) locations in Delhi in 4 different seasons such as season 1 (November 2022), season 2 (February 2022), season 3 (November 2023) and season 4 (February 2023), respectively. The study findings showed that the plant located at Anand Vihar and NTPC Badarpur cause significant physiological stress compared to non-polluted locations. Moreover, season 3 showed the most favourable conditions for the growth of plants. APTI was observed in the plant species located at non-polluted locations such as Pusa institute and Luteyen zones (13.47 and 13.50) compared to polluted locations namely Anand Vihar (11.87) and NTPC Badarpur (12.07), respectively. APTI value of different tree species grown under polluted areas had significantly varied by pollution. Azadirachta indica (14.52), Cassia Fistula (13.50), Polyalthea longifolia (13.37) calculated higher APTI value and while minimum APTI value was noted by Alstonia scholaris (9.82). The plant species with high pollution tolerance capacity can be recommended for future plantation and green belt development.