synopsis copy of Respiring cities through ornamental plants.

1. University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot
Kittur Rani Channamma College of Horticulture, Arabhavi -591 218
Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture
Seminar
On
Respiring cities through ornamental plants
Date : 20/12/2013
Rachappa K. Kore Time : 4.00 pm
UHS12PGM214 Venue : Conference hall
Synopsis
Urban air pollution increasing day by day due to rapid growth of population, urbanization
and industrialization during recent past years. It is a big challenge to minimize the urban air
pollution for healthy and prosperous life of human beings as well as plants. Ornamental plants
play an important role to access air pollution and its control.
Urban air pollution causes several ill effects on plant morphology (Abdulmoniem et al.,
2011) as well as on human health (Sirajuddin and Ravichandran, 2010). Apart from several
usages of ornamental plants they recognized as best tool for monitoring and mitigating the urban
air pollution based on their Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) values (Radhapriya et al.,
2012).
Based on APTI values and API (Anticipated Performance Index) values several scientists
identified and categorized many ornamental plant species for controlling air pollution. Miria and
Anisa (2013) identified Mangifera indica, Senna semea, Eucalyptus microtheca, Acacia
auriculiformis and Ficus religiosa are good performers to control urban air pollution.
The deciduous plant species viz., Albizzia lebbeck, Cassia fistula, Zyzyphus jujuba,
Azadirachta indica; Evergreen plant species viz., Pithecoloium dulce, Ficus bengalensis,
Polyelthia longifolia and shrubs viz., Bougainvillea spectabilis, Calotropis gigantia and Ricinus
communis are identified as tolerant plant species for urban air pollution (Kumar et al., 2013).
Considering the present scenario of urban environmental pollution, there is a growing need
for changing the approach of planting ornamental trees and other plant species. Inclusion of the
ornamental plants having air pollution mitigating ability in the landscape plan will serve dual

2. purpose of making the cities green and pollution free in long run. India’s rich biodiversity of the
indigenous and exotic trees offers a wide range of choice to restore our sick and sultry towns.
References:
Abdulmoniem, M. A., Saadabi, and Amin, A. N. E., 2011, Effect of environmental pollution
(Auto-exhaust) on the Micro-Morphology of some ornamental plants from Sudan. Env.
Res. J., 5(2): 38-41.
Kumar, S. R., Arumugam, T., Anandakumar, C. R., Balakrishnan, S. and Rajavel, D. S., 2013,
Use of plant species in controlling environment pollution- A review. Bull. Env.
Pharmacol. Life Sci., 2(2): 52-63.
Miria, A. and Anisa, B. K., 2013, Air pollution tolerance index and carbon storage of select urban
trees - A comparative study. Int. J. Applied Res. Studies, 2(5): 1-7.
Radhapriya, P., Navaneetha, A. G., Malini, P. and Ramachandran, A., 2012, Assessment of air
pollution tolerance levels of selected plants around cement industry, Coimbatore, India. J.
Env. Biol., 33: 635-641.
Sirajuddin M. H and Ravichandran M., 2010, Ambient air quality in an urban area and its effects
on plants and human beings: A case study of Tirucharapalli, India. Katmandu Univ. J. Sci,
Engg. Technol., 6(2): 13-19.