Analyzing Preferred Indoor Ornamental PottedPlants for Their Air Pollution Tolerance Ability
Shivani Chauhan, Kumari Manisha, Bhavya Bhargava, Kishor Chandra Kandpal, Amit Kumar
Abstract
Ornamental potted indoor plants provide environment friendly, self-regulating and cost-effective solutions to ameliorating indoor air pollution. The present study aimed to measure Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) of 15 commonly used indoor ornamental plant species. APTI was measured from the foliar portion of plants using their 04 biochemical parameters like chlorophyll (total), pH, relative water content, and ascorbic acid. It was found that among all plant species, Dracaena deremensis (APTI 13.03) and Ficus benjamina (APTI 12.19) appeared as tolerant; eight species (Spathiphyllum wallisii, Epipremnum aureum, Philodendron bipinnatifidum, Dieffenbachia seguine, Sansevieria trifasciata, Hedera helix, Chrysanthemum indicum, Ficus elastica) were moderately tolerant with APTI values ranging from 11.40 to 10.70. The Chlorophytum comosum (APTI 10.32) was intermediately tolerant and four were sensitive (Rhapis excels APTI 8.58, Chamadorea seifrizii APTI 8.47, Dypsis lutescens APTI 7.47, Gerbera jamesonii APTI 6.76) towards air pollution. A positive and high correlation was obtained between APTI and RWC (R 2 = 0.742), and APTI and Ascorbic acid (R 2 = 0.615). The present study thus helped in knowing the pollution tolerance abilities of widely used indoor potted ornamental plants. It was also revealed that the evaluation of the plant tolerance index could be useful for the screening of appropriate indoor plant species for pollution abatement.