ESTIMATION OF AIR POLLUTION TOLERANCE INDEX OF CERTAIN PLANT SPECIES FOUND IN THE VICINITY OF BRICK KILN INDUSTRIES IN UDAIPUR, RAJASTHAN

The brick kiln industry is a small-scale unsystematic industry that is a leadingcause of air pollution. Air pollutants released from the brick kiln industry directly affect the plants foundin the locality of brick kilns. The sensitivity and tolerance of plant species can be accustomed by calculating theair pollution tolerance index (APTI).The purpose of this study was to calculate APTI by using leaf parameters like pH, relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll, and ascorbic acid for plants foundin the vicinity of brick industries of Udaipur District, Rajasthan, India.Three major brick kiln sites of Udaipur, like Debari,Matoon and Sukhanaka were chosen for this study. Leaf samples of five plant species such as Azadirachta indica, Calotropis procera, Holoptelea integrifolia, Lantana camara, and Ricinus communis were collected from the sites mentioned above. The trend of APTI recorded was C. procera (12.95) >L. camara (12.88)>H. integrifolia (12.75)>R. communis (12.68) >A. indica (11.71) for Polluted Sample and A. indica (6.41) >H. integrifolia (6.39) >L. camara (6.32)>R. communis (6.24)>C. procera (6.18) for Control Sample. The APTI value of all the plants was found to be much higherinPollutedSample in comparisontothe Control Sample, which indicatedtheair pollution tolerance level of these plants.