Morphological and anatomical study of grasses Triticum aestivum L. and Phalaris minor Retz. a quick tool for assessing the impact of road side pollution

Abstract

Abstract Plants grown close by roadside areas are exposed to variety of pollutants. Air pollution has an adverse effect on plants. Most air pollution comes from Automobiles. Automobiles have increased in number in tandem with population growth, as has pollution from automotive emissions. The first targets of these vehicular pollutants are roadside plants and roadway vegetation. Vehicle emissions contain a variety of contaminants that contribute to the worst types of pollution in the environment. Various contaminants from automobiles changed the properties of the vegetation that are exposed. One of the most obvious roadside plant is grass. This experiment shows how automobile emissions affect grasses anatomy and morphology. Experiments were conducted to investigate morphological as well as anatomical changes in leaves and culms of roadside grasses Triticum aestivum L. and Phalaris minor Retz. To carry out the experiment, samples (Fresh leaves and Culms) were collected from polluted sites and non-polluted site acting as a control. For anatomical study leaves and stems were cut into sections and epidermal peeling was performed in the laboratory and changes were identified under the light microscopy. SEM analysis was also done. Results revealed the major anatomical and morphometric variations observed in both Triticum aestivumL. andPhalaris minor Retz. growing in polluted and non-polluted study sites. Reduction in morphometric parameters for both the specimens growing in polluted study sites indicated a negative effect of pollutants on the growth of these pooideae members. Not only that changes in the anatomy of the polluted site specimens, both in the culm and leaf anatomy was found. SEM images of the abaxial and adaxial surface of the leaves showed micro-morphological changes, with stomatal size and number showing a reduction in case of Triticum aestivumL. for the polluted site specimens while the size of stomata showed an increase in the case of Phalaris minor Retz. growing in polluted study sites. These results highlighted the importance of anatomical and morphological data to determine the responsiveness of roadside grasses to various environmental pollutants.