What to do?

Research Topic: Comparative Study of Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) of Selected
Plants Species of District Abbottabad

Air pollution can be defined as the presence of toxic chemicals or compounds (including those
of biological origin) in the air, at levels that pose a health risk.

Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) An index to identify the tolerance of air pollutants was
developed which is known as air pollution tolerance index (APTI). It is mainly based on four
major properties of leaves namely ascorbic acid content, relative water content, total chlorophyll
content and leaf extract pH

Introduction
Plants are an integral basis for all ecosystems and also most likely to be affected by
airborne pollution which are identified as the organisms with most potential to receive impacts
from ambient air pollution. Also the effects are most often apparent on the leaves which are
usually the most abundant and most obvious primary receptors of large number of air
pollutants. Biomonitoring of plants is an important tool to evaluate the impact of air pollution.

The air pollution is a very big problem all around the world and is increasing day by day and it
occurs when the harmful gasses, dust particles and the smoke mix up in the air. This causes
many harmful effects on the atmosphere, animals and plants.

Abbottabad is a city with increasing urbanization day by day and increase in vehicular activity
also. Tourism activity in Abbottabad is increasing as it is one of the beautiful city of Pakistan but
with the increase in tourist means increase in pollution. Abbottabad is having one highway
(Karakorum highway) that passes through the center of the city. It links to all of the city
surroundings, but with increase in population in the city the road if filled with shops and malls
there are no place left for trees. The trees left at the side of the road are filled with dust/pollution
due to the vehicles.

Doing APTI in Abbottabad city will tell us that the plants which are left are tolerant enough to
survive the pollution or not. Since plants are stationary and continuously exposed to chemical
pollutants from the surrounding atmosphere, air pollution injury to plants is proportional to the
intensity of the pollution. Also, the effects are most often apparent on the leaves which are
usually the most abundant and most obvious primary receptors of large number of air pollutants.
Bio-monitoring of plants is an important tool to evaluate the impact of air pollution. Sensitivity
and response of plants to air pollutants is variable. The plant species which are more sensitive act
as biological indicators of air pollution.
The response of plants to air pollution at physiological and biochemical levels can be understood
by analyzing Air pollution tolerance index (APTI).Three species of plants were selected namely
chinar (Platanus orientalis), loquat (Eriobotrya japonica), populs (Populus nigra) as they are
found at both experimental and control site. The biochemical and physiological parameters such
as leaf relative water content (RWC), Ascorbic acid content (AA), total leaf chlorophyll (TLC)
and leaf extract pH were used to calculate the APTI values.

Why to do?

Air pollution is a major cause of many environmental problems. It is therefore needed to

determine the effect of air pollution on plants.These activities include industrialization,
population increase, construction, and transportation. Vehicles are the major contributor of air
pollution. Air pollution affects plants directly or indirectly. Direct affects are observed by leaves
and indirect by soil acidification.The air pollution tolerance index (APTI) of selected species of
local trees in Abbottabad will be explored.

Objectives
 Four local plant species will be selected which are available in both locations
 The biochemical parameters will be checked namely ascorbic acid, chlorophyll, leaf
extract pH and relative water content in leaf samples
 Calculate APTI of selected plant species

How to do?

Study area

Abbottabad is located 34.15 latitude and 73.21 longitudes and it is situated at elevation 1232
meters above sea level. The climate here is mild, and generally warm and temperate. Abbottabad
is a city with a significant rainfall. The present study was conducted during the period of six
months.

Sampling sites
Two sites will be taken into account for the study of APTI
Site-1 (Karakorum road): Plants will be selected from the main road within Abbottabad Urban
area. The road is selected from fawara-chok to kala pul, which is a commercial area and highly
loaded by heavy traffic.

Site- 2 (Banda Ghazan Village): It is control site of this study, where the forest and vegetation
are very dense and pollution level is almost very low.
Sampling Procedure For experimental purpose, a total of three supreme tree species i.e.
namely chinar (Platanus orientalis), loquat (Eriobotrya japonica), populs (Populus nigra), were
selected because of their presence at both the control and experimental sites. For experiment,
leaves from top, middle and base canopy of plants were collected. About 30 leaf samples were
taken from each individual of a species plants, around 1-2 Kms of the area of the experimental
site and the control site. Samples of the plants were collected, put in polyethene bags and marked
with masking tapes. Samples were taken to the laboratory immediately for analysis.

Air pollution Tolerance Index Technique

To obtain the four biochemical parameters in APTI formula, Samples were treated as follows
Relative Leaf Water Content (RWC)
The fresh plants will be taken immediately to the laboratory for determination of the leaf fresh
weight in order to minimize water loss. Fresh weight will be obtained by weighing the leaves.
Then the leaves will be immersed in water for 24 h (overnight), blotted dry with Whatman filter
paper and weighed to obtain the turgid weight (TW). The leaves will be dried in oven at 70°C
overnight and then reweighted on the weighing balance to obtain the dry weight (DW). Using the
formula (Singh 1997)
RWC = [(FW –DW)/(TW –DW)] x 100
FW = Fresh weight
DW = Dry weight
TW =Turgid weight
Total Chlorophyll Content (TLC)
TLC will be obtained by weighing 1.0 g of each leaf sample and will be soaked in 20 ml of 50%
acetone, then left for five days. 25 ml aliquot of extract will be added to 50 ml diethyl ether in a
separating funnel. For optical density, absorbance will be taken at 645 nm on spectrophotometer.
TLC will calculated thus:
Total chlorophyll in ether solution (mg/L) = (7.12 x optical density at 660 nm + 16.8 x optical
density at 645 nm) ÷ 10
Leaf Extract pH
5g of the fresh leaves are homogenized in 10ml deionized water. This will be filtered and the pH
of the leaf extract determined using a digital pH meter.
Ascorbic Acid (AA) Content Analysis
The AAC will be measured using the indophenols acetic acid method. 1 g of the leaf sample will
be crushed and made up to 50 ml using distilled water and 10 ml of acetic acid. A solution of
0.01% 2, 6-Dichlorophenol indo phenol will be made and then titrated with the sample
alternatively until pink color develops.
Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI)
The formula for APTI is given as:
𝐴(𝑇+𝑃)+𝑅
APTI = 10

A = Ascorbic acid content (mg/g)

T = Total Chlorophyll (mg/g)
P = pH of leaf extract
R = Relative water content of leaf (%)
References

 http://www.worldatlas.com/as/pk/kp/where-is-abbottabad.htm)
 Air pollution http// en. Wikipedia, Org/ wiki/ Air pollution, Retrieved
 http://jett.dormaj.com/docs/Volume2/Issue%204/Air%20Pollution%20Tolerance%20Ind
ex%20and%20B
 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279848335_Air_Pollution_Tolerance_Index_an
d_Biochemica
 https://www.environmentalpollutioncenters.org/air/
 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1618866715001028