Pollen germination significantly affected by SO2, NOx, PM10 and AQI in the Amravati City of Maharashtra, India

Amravati is a developing urban area of Maharashtra state in Central India, with the growth, of urbanization there is an increase in traffic load and pollution. In the present investigation, we examine the effect of vehicular pollution (SO₂, NO_x PM₁₀, and AQI) on pollen germination. Based on the traffic load we have distinguished three major areas, a no-traffic area (Site A), a heavy traffic area (Site B), and a moderate traffic area (Site C) from Amravati city of Central India. From all three sites, pollen and pistils of Catharanthus roseus, Martinia annua, and Tridax procumbens were collected and examined for pollen viability. We found a significant variation in pollen viability between the no-traffic area and heavy traffic area in all three studied plant species. This suggests that pollen viability is significantly affected by the traffic load of the city irrespective of particular species. The correlation analysis confirmed pollen viability is negatively impacted by air pollutants, we found that higher polluted area have significantly lower amounts of pollen viability. The present study reveals that all studied plant species pollen shows sensitivity to the pollutant concentration and is affected by pollution. Further study needs to investigate any changes that occurred at a cellular and genetic level.