Biochemical changes in leaves of parsley Petroselinum crispum as a biomarker of air pollution

الملخص EN

The environmental impact of power plant emissions has attracted a great interest, combustion of fossil fuel to generate electricity contributed to air pollution, Dora power plant (DPP) in Baghdad city is one of the most important sources for generation electric energy in Iraq.

Dora power plant is a dangerous contaminant to the environment.

To understand the status of pollution in areas surrounding DPP and assess the concerns of a possible environmental pollution that will cause health and life threats to living organisms.

The present study was conducted to determine the effects of air pollution on some biochemical parameters in Petroselinum crispum parsley plant.

In addition, values of air pollution tolerance index(APTI) were calculated for the selected plant to evaluate the plant's sensitivity to air pollution.

Samples of Petroselinum crispum plant leaves were picked from control station and from two other stations within the scope of the study, one of which is close to the DPP at a distance of approximately 250 meters S1 and the other is farthest away from the power plant at a distance of approximately 1000 meters S2 with taking three replicates for each sub- station.

The area of study has been subjected to the removal of many agricultural lands due to the construction of housing units in it.

Seven biochemical parameters total chlorophyll, ascorbic acid, leaf extract, pH, chromium cadmium and lead.

With taking GPS point for each, collected for four seasons of October and November 2021 (represent autumn), January and February 2022 (represent winter), March and April 2022 (represent spring), May and June 2022 (represent summer) the stations were near DPP.

When comparing the results of the more polluted sites with control site which is less in pollutants, the results showed decline in total chlorophyll content in the more polluted regions near DPP the lowest was (12.96±0.07 mg/g) and an increase in ascorbic acid levels the highest was(1.0584±0.0022 mg/g),pH levels in the more polluted sites recorded a decline in its values the lowest (5.1±0.5),and for relative water content the highest level was(88±0.55%) at areas with higher levels of pollutants, the study results showed a presence of heavy metals pollution in the studied plants and the levels was above the permissible limits in most sites the highest means were ( 0.29 ppm ,6.72 ppm and 7.6ppm)for(Cd, Cr and Pb), respectively.