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

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Published

2026-09-30

DOI:

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

Keywords:

Heavy metals, metal accumulation, leaf dust, APTI.
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Issue

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

Section

Research Articles

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

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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

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