Ram Kumar Shrestha1,2, Dan Shi1,3, Hikmatullah Obaid1,4, Nader Saad Elsayed1,5, Deti Xie1,3, Jiupai Ni1,3, Chengsheng Ni6,7,8. 1. College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Teaching Building 35, Tiansheng Road No 2, Chongqing, 400715, China. 2. Lamjung Campus, Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Tribhuvan University, Lamjung, Nepal. 3. Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation (Southwest China), Ministry of Agriculture, Chongqing, 400715, China. 4. Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Afghanistan National Agricultural Sciences and Technology University, Kandahar, Afghanistan. 5. Soil and Agricultural Chemistry Department, Faculty of Agriculture (Saba-Basha), Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt. 6. College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Teaching Building 35, Tiansheng Road No 2, Chongqing, 400715, China. nichengsheg@swu.edu.cn. 7. Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation (Southwest China), Ministry of Agriculture, Chongqing, 400715, China. nichengsheg@swu.edu.cn. 8. National Base of International S and T Collaboration On Water Environmental Monitoring and Simulation in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, Chongqing, 400716, China. nichengsheg@swu.edu.cn.
Abstract
MAIN CONCLUSION: Consequences of air pollutants on physiology, biology, yield and quality in the crops are evident. Crop and soil management can play significant roles in attenuating the impacts of air pollutants. With rapid urbanization and industrialization, air pollution has emerged as a serious threat to quality crop production. Assessing the effect of the elevated level of pollutants on the performance of the crops is crucial. Compared to the soil and water pollutants, the air pollutants spread more rapidly to the extensive area. This paper has reviewed and highlighted the major findings of the previous research works on the morphological, physiological and biochemical changes in some important crops and fruits exposed to the increasing levels of air pollutants. The crop, soil and environmental factors governing the effect of air pollutants have been discussed. The majority of the observations suggest that the air pollutants alter the physiology and biochemical in the plants, i.e., while some pollutants are beneficial to the growth and yields and modify physiological and morphological processes, most of them appeared to be detrimental to the crop yields and their quality. A better understanding of the mechanisms of the uptake of air pollutants and crop responses is quite important for devising the measures ‒ at both policy and program levels ‒ to minimize their possible negative impacts on crops. Further research directions in this field have also been presented.
MAIN CONCLUSION: Consequences of air pollutants on physiology, biology, yield and quality in the crops are evident. Crop and soil management can play significant roles in attenuating the impacts of air pollutants. With rapid urbanization and industrialization, air pollution has emerged as a serious threat to quality crop production. Assessing the effect of the elevated level of pollutants on the performance of the crops is crucial. Compared to the soil and water pollutants, the air pollutants spread more rapidly to the extensive area. This paper has reviewed and highlighted the major findings of the previous research works on the morphological, physiological and biochemical changes in some important crops and fruits exposed to the increasing levels of air pollutants. The crop, soil and environmental factors governing the effect of air pollutants have been discussed. The majority of the observations suggest that the air pollutants alter the physiology and biochemical in the plants, i.e., while some pollutants are beneficial to the growth and yields and modify physiological and morphological processes, most of them appeared to be detrimental to the crop yields and their quality. A better understanding of the mechanisms of the uptake of air pollutants and crop responses is quite important for devising the measures ‒ at both policy and program levels ‒ to minimize their possible negative impacts on crops. Further research directions in this field have also been presented.
Authors: Ghalia S H Alnusairi; Yasser S A Mazrou; Sameer H Qari; Amr A Elkelish; Mona H Soliman; Mohamed Eweis; Khaled Abdelaal; Gomaa Abd El-Samad; Mohamed F M Ibrahim; Nihal ElNahhas Journal: Plants (Basel) Date: 2021-08-18