Heavy metal tolerance of selected flowering and non-flowering plants in NCR-Delhi region

Downloads

Published

2026-09-30

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58993/ijh/2026.83.3.16

Keywords:

Heavy metals, metal accumulation, leaf dust, APTI.
Dimensions Badge

Issue

Vol. 83 No. 03 (2026): Indian Journal of Horticulture

Section

Research Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Shiv Shankar, Nutan Kaushik, Nishant Kumar

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors

  • Shiv Shankar Amity Institute of Horticulture Studies and Research (AIHSR), Amity University, Noida 201313, Uttar Pradesh, India.
  • Nutan Kaushik Amity Institute of Horticulture Studies and Research (AIHSR), Amity University, Noida 201313, Uttar Pradesh, India.
  • Nishant Kumar Amity Food and Agriculture Foundation (AFAF), Amity University, Noida 201313, Uttar Pradesh, India. Professor, Amity Food and Agriculture Foundation, Amity University, Noida 201313, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Abstract

The study aimed to evaluate the heavy metal tolerance and accumulation capacity of 7 different plant species
(Azadirachta indica, Alstonia scholaris, Ficus relegiosa, Terminalia arjuna, Ficus infectoria, Cassia fistula and
Polyalthea longifolia located at different sites (Lutyens area, IARI Pusa, Anand Vihar and NTPC Badarpur) at
Delhi NCR. The heavy metal was determined and calculated the heavy metal burden and their relationship with
the leaf dust accumulation. In addition, the correlations of heavy metals with Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI)
were also determined. The results showed the significance variations in the accumulation of metals by the plant
species and sample locations. The plant leaves samples collected from NTPC Badarpur site exhibited higher
mean value of metal burden (20.84 g kg-1), while lowest was found at IARI Pusa site (11.4120.84 g kg-1). Among
the 7 plant species Terminalia arjuna exhibited highest mean total heavy metal burden of 26.79 g kg-1 with 0.124
mg of dust deposition followed by Alstonia scholaris heavy metal burden (26.33 g kg-1) with 0.083 mg of dust
deposition, while the lowest heavy metal burden was found in Cassia fistula (4.87 g kg-1) followed by Azadirachta
indica (7.72 g kg-1) and Polyalthia longifolia (8.89 g kg-1), respectively. A positive correlation (r=0.78) of heavy
metal burden and leaf dust and negative correlation between metal burden and APTI were found.

How to Cite

Shankar, S., Kaushik, N., & Kumar, N. (2026). Heavy metal tolerance of selected flowering and non-flowering plants in NCR-Delhi region. Indian Journal of Horticulture, 83(03), 368–375. https://doi.org/10.58993/ijh/2026.83.3.16

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

1. Ali, H., Khan, E. and Ilahi, I. 2022. Environmental and human health risks associated with heavy metal contamination in soil and plants. Environ. Res. 207: 112160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.112160

2. Collin, M.S., Venkatraman, S.K., Vijayakumar, N., Kanimozhi, V., Arbaaz, S.M., Stacey, R.S. and Swamiappan, S. 2022. Bioaccumulation of lead (Pb) and its effects on human: A review. J. Hazard. Mater. Adv. 7: 100094. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hazadv.2022.100094

3. Ejaz, U., Khan, S. M., Khalid, N., Ahmad, Z., Jehangir, S., Fatima Rizvi, Z. and Raposo, A. 2023. Detoxifying the heavy metals: a multipronged study of tolerance strategies against heavy metals toxicity in plants. Front. Plant Sci. 14: 1154571. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1154571

4. Kandpal, H. and Rai, J. P. N. 2024. Detect urban trees air pollution sensitivity & tolerance by leaf trait analysis in the industrial zone of Kumaun Himalaya Uttarakhand India. Urban Clim. 55: 101932. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2024.101932

5. Khalid, N., Aqeel, M., Noman, A., Khan, S. M. and Akhter, N. 2021. Interactions and effects of microplastics with heavy metals in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Environ. Poll. 290: 118104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118104

6. Kour, B. and Raina, A. K. 2014. Assessment of air pollution tolerance levels of some plant species of Jammu. Environ. Conserv. J. 15(1&2): 89-93. https://doi.org/10.36953/ECJ.2014.151212

7. Liang, J., Fang, H. L., Zhang, T. L., Wang, X. X. and Liu, Y. D., 2017. Heavy metal in leaves of twelve plant species from seven different areas in Shanghai, China. Urban For. Urban Green. 27: 390-398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.03.006

8. Mishra, A., Lal, B. and Kumar, R. 2024. Air quality monitoring and its impact on local tree species in and around mining areas of Dhanbad District, Jharkhand, India. In Spatial Modeling of Environmental Pollution and Ecological Risk (pp. 9-40). Woodhead Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-95282-8.00016-X

9. Mohamed, H. I., Ullah, I., Toor, M. D., Tanveer, N. A., Din, M. M. U., Basit, A. and Rehman, M. U. 2025. Heavy metals toxicity in plants: Understanding mechanisms and developing coping strategies for remediation: A review. Bioresour. Bioprocess. 12(1): 95. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40643-025-00930-4

10. Moustakas, M. 2023. Molecular mechanisms of metal toxicity and plant tolerance. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 24(9): 7810. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24097810

11. Narayanan, M. and Ma, Y. 2023. Metal tolerance mechanisms in plants and microbe-mediated bioremediation. Environ. Res. 222: 115413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.115413

12. Panda, L. L., Aggarwal, R. K. and Bhardwaj, D. R. 2018. A review on air pollution tolerance index (APTI) and anticipated performance index (API). Curr. World Environ. 13(1): 55. http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.13.1.06

13. Panda, L. L., Aggarwal, R. K. and Sharma, A. 2020. Leaf dust accumulation and its heavy metal status in selected plant species growing alongside the road in sub-temperate condition of Himachal Pradesh during different season. Int. J. Chem. Stud. 8(2): 2494-2500. https://www.doi.org/10.22271/chemi.2020.v8.i2al.9125

14. Tahir, U., Zameer, M., Ali, Q., Rafique, A., Ali, S. M., Arif, M. U. and Ali, D. 2023. Toxicity assessment of heavy metal (Pb) and its bioremediation by potential bacterial isolates. Environ. Monit. Assess. 195(9): 1047. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11632-9

15. Wijerathna, N., Ukwattage, N. L. and De Silva, N. 2026. Assessment of Air Pollution Tolerance of Urban Park Tree Species Using the Air Pollution Tolerance Index: A Case Study from Kandy City, Sri Lanka. J. Park. 1(2): 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/jop1020010

16. Yan, Y., Jarvie, S., Liu, Q. and Zhang, Q. 2022. Effects of fragmentation on grassland plant diversity depend on the habitat specialization of species. Biol. Conserv. 275: 109773. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109773

Similar Articles

<< < 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.