Abstract
The impact of SO2 on the deposition of ammonia and the response of eight tropical tree species to excess deposition of ammonia was investigated. This was achieved by studying physiological aspects like total sugars, protein, nitrate reductace (NR) activity, organic/inorganic nitrogen ratio, specific leaf area and foliar injury in plants growing under field conditions prevalent with SO2 and NH3.
Analysis of water soluble substances present on foliar surfaces of the trees indicated enhanced NH4 + deposition and thereby result in enhanced foliar protein contents. Though the enhanced nitrogen was almost the same in different plants, the plants exhibited differential metabolic disturbances. Critical analysis of the results indicated three distinct types of plant response. Plants like Azadirachta indica, Acacia auriculiformis and Bambusa arundinaceae maintained enhanced total sugars and NR activity and incorporated excess NH4 + into proteins, thus enabling the plant to compensate/alleviate SO2 induced injury. Ficus benghalensis and Ficus religiosa maintained unaltered total sugars and NR activity and could partly incorporate NH4 + into proteins, thus modifying the SO2 impact to some extent. Dalbergia sissoo, Eucalyptus rostrata and Mangifera indica could not incorporate the excess NH4 +, mainly due to declined total sugars. The results indicate the ability of a plant to undergo species specific metabolic changes in order to cope with the excess nitrogen deposition, which may ultimately result in increasing or decreasing tolerance to SO2.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, S. E.: 1974, in Chemical Analysis Of Biological Materials. Blackwell, Oxford.
Allen, S. E., Grimshaw, H. M., Parkinson, N., Quarmby, C., and Roberts, J. D.: 1976, in Methods In Plant Ecology S. D. Chapman, Halsted Press, New York.
American Public Health Association: 1977, In Methods Of Air Sampling And Analysis, M. Katz (ed.), II edition, Washington, D.C.
Borland, A. M. and Lea, P. L.: 1991, Agriculture Ecosystems And Environment 33, 281.
Dhondiyal, S.: 1991, M. Phil Thesis, Vikram University, Ujjain, India.
Dolske, D. A.: 1988, Environmental Pollution 53, 1.
Dubey, P. S.: 1986, in Procedure Manual: All India Coordinated Programme On Air Pollution And Plants. Dept. of Environment, Govt. of India, India.
Duncan, S. B.: 1955, Biometrics 55, 1.
Ferm, A., Hytonen, J., Lahdesmaki, P., Pietilainen, P., and Patila, A.: 1990, in Acidification In Finland P. Kauppi, P. Anttibi and K. Ken Hanies (eds.), Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, pp. 635.
Khujneri, S.: 1991, M. Phil Thesis, Vikram University, Ujjain, India.
Lowry, O. H., Rosenbrough, N. J., Frar, F. L., and Randall, R. J.: 1951, J. Biol. Chem. 193, 265.
Malhotra, S. S. and Sarkar, S. K.: 1979, Physiol. Plant 47, 223.
Mc Donald, M. S.: 1978, Anal. Biochem. 121, 54.
Mc Leod, A. R.: 1988, Phytopathology 78, 88.
Mc Leod, A. R., Holland, M. R., Shaw, P. J. A., Sutherland, P. M., Darrall, N. M., and Skeffington, R. A.: 1991, Nature 347, 277.
Mehrer, I. and Mohr, H.: 1989, Physiol. Plant. 77, 545.
Nihlgard, B.: 1985, Ambio 14, 1.
Pietila, M., Lahdesmaki, P., Pietilainen, P., Ferm, A., Hytonen, J., and Patila, A.: 1991, Environmental Pollution 72, 103.
Purirch, G. S. and Borker, A. V.: 1967, Plant Physiol. 42, 1229.
Rao, M. V. and Dubey, P. S.: 1988, Asian Environ. 3, 3.
Rao, M. V. and Dubey, P. S.: 1990a, Environmental Pollution 64, 55.
Rao, M. V. and Dubey, P. S.: 1990b, Water, Air, and Soil Pollut. 51, 297.
Rao, M. V. and Dubey, R. S.: 1992. The Science Of The Total Environment 126, 1.
Roelofs, J. G. M., Kempers, A. J., Houdijk, A. L. F. M., and Jansen, J.: 1985, Plant and Soil 84, 45.
Srivastava, R. C. and Mathur, S. N.: 1980, Indian J. Experimental Biology 18, 300.
Trebst, A. and Avron, M.: 1977, In Encyclopedia Of Plant Physiology, New Series, Springer Verlag, Berlin, p. 1.
Van Breemen, N., Burrough, P. A., Velthorst, E. J., van Dobben, H. F., de Wit, T., Ridder, T. B., and Reynders, H. F. R.: 1982, Nature 299, 548.
Van der Eerden, L. J.: 1982, Agric. Environ. 7, 223.
Van der Eerden, L. J., Dueck, T. A., Elderson, J., Van Dobben, H. V., Berdowski, J. J., Latuhihin, M., and Prins, A. H.: 1990, Research Report 90/06, Research Institute For Plant Protection, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Van Dijk, H. F. G. and Roelofs, J. G.M.: 1988, Physiol. Plant. 73, 494.
Van Hove, L. W. A., Adema, E. H., Vredenberg, W. J., and Pieters, G. A.: 1989, Atmos. Environ. 23, 1479.
Zedler, B., Piarre, R., and Rothe, G. M.: 1986, Environmental Pollution 40, 193.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rao, M.V., Khujneri, S., Dubey, P.S. et al. Response of eight tropical plants to enhanced ammonia deposition under field conditions prevalent with SO2 and NH3 . Water Air Soil Pollut 71, 331–345 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00480553
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00480553