Plant-Pollutant Interaction

Plants are the primary reservoirs in food chain. They play a key role in the conversion of energy into food. The life on Earth is impossible without plants. With the increasing advances in different fields, the health of plants is deteriorating drastically. Heavy metals have become an environmental concern because of their adverse and detrimental effects on human life. Apart from that, one of the most important components of global change is increase in atmospheric nitrogen (N), which is threatening both the structure and function of the ecosystem. The N cycle is dominated by anthropogenic activity and the emission and deposition rates of N are expected to be doubled by 2050, which will greatly increase the number of regions potentially receiving damaging levels of N inputs. Another harmful air pollutant is the tropospheric ozone (O3) having negative impact on the growth and development of plants. Current concentration of O3 is decreasing the productivity of forest and crop yields. Future O3 concentration will increase if the current emission rate stays persistent. In addition, benzene; a volatile organic compound (VOC), is extracted from industries of petroleum and used widely as an additive or intermediate or solvent in many manufacturing industries. Ambient air pollution problems can be caused by the emission of benzene from many sources, even though several organizations and countries have standard guidelines on benzene use. A number of studies have been carried out to study the effect of petro-coke, cement, coal and dust, fly ash, automobile exhaust and other air-borne particulates on different physiological and morphological parameters in plants.