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ABSTRACT
Air pollution assessment was carried out using chlorophyll concentration reduction criterion of five higher plants leaves namely; Panicum maximum, Chromolaena odorata, Hyptis suaveolens, Tithonia diversifolia and Sida acuta. The three (3) different locations were polluted area (Agbaluku ArigidiAkoko Ondo State), slightly polluted area (Along General Hospital Road, Ikare-Akoko Ondo State) and unpolluted area (Along Epinmi Road Ugbe Akoko Ondo State). Chlorophyll content of intact matured leaves of study plants were measured in situ using a hand-held digital chlorophyll content meter CCM 200 Plus. The mean value of chlorophyll content index of Panicum maximum at polluted, slightly polluted and unpolluted sites were; 12.80 ± 0.81, 16.03 ± 1.59 and 21.47 ± 0.88 respectively. There were no significant difference (P > 0.05) between polluted and slightly polluted site but significant differences existed (P < 0.05) between polluted and unpolluted sites as well as slightly polluted and unpolluted sites respectively. The mean value of chlorophyll content index of Chromolaena odorata at polluted, slightly polluted and unpolluted sites were 16.27 ± 0.64, 19.53 ± 0.54 and 21.67 ± 1.13 respectively. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) between slightly polluted and unpolluted sites, but there were significant differences (P < 0.05) between polluted and slightly polluted sites as well as between polluted and unpolluted sites. The mean value of chlorophyll content index of Hyptis suaveolens at polluted, slightly polluted and unpolluted sites were 8.53 ± 0.24, 10.17 ± 0.23 and 12.17 ± 0.20 respectively. There were significant differences (P < 0.05) among the polluted, slightly polluted and unpolluted sites leaf chlorophyll content. The mean value of chlorophyll content index of Tithonia diversifolia at polluted, slightly polluted and unpolluted sites were; 12.70 ± 0.36, 14.63 ± 0.12 and 22.50 ± 1.25 respectively. There were no significant difference (P > 0.05) between polluted and slightly polluted, but significant differences (P < 0.05) existed between polluted and unpolluted as well as slightly polluted and unpolluted sites. The mean value of chlorophyll content index of Sida acuta at polluted, slightly polluted and unpolluted sites were 7.17 ± 0.92, 13.53 ± 1.04 and 18.63 ± 0.22 respectively. There were significant differences (P < 0.05) among polluted, slightly polluted and non- polluted sites leaf chlorophyll contents. These results confirmed that Polluted site (Agbaluku Road) is highly polluted than the other study areas. This study revealed that changes occurred in chlorophyll content of plants due to air pollution and that plant act as a sink for air pollutant which deteriorates their photosynthetic pigments which invariably leads to reduction in plant productivity.
