ABSTRACT
Air pollution assessment was carried out using chlorophyll concentration reduction of some higher plants leaves such as Polyathia longifolia, Mangifera indica, Psidium guajava, and Terminalia catappa. The study was carried out in three (3) different areas viz. polluted, slightly polluted and unpolluted respectively. One of the locations is at Ring Road in Benin City, Edo State, Southern Nigeria. The second and third area of study were at Ekosodin gate area and Senior Staff Quarter (SSQ) where some of the professors and some senior non-academic staff resides inside University of Benin, Ugbowo Campus, Benin City, Edo State. The study revealed that there was significant (p < 0.05) reduction of chlorophyll concentration at Ring Road area (polluted) and Ekosodin Gate area (slightly polluted) as compared to Senior Staff Quarter area (unpolluted). The mean Chlorophyll concentration index for Polyathia longifolia, Mangifera indica, Psidium guajava, and Terminalia catappa at the polluted, slightly polluted and unpolluted areas were 18.50 ± 2.69, 26.40 ± 0.36, 34.67 ± 2.69; 39.83 ± 4.33, 54.07 ± 2.00, 72.53 ± 2.38; 18.07 ± 1.26, 25.00 ± 0.30, 32.87 ± 0.73 and 26.53 ± 4.67, 28.90 ± 0.75, 38.90 ± 3.51 respectively. The percentage chlorophyll reduction at Ring Road in Polyathia longifolia, Mangifera indica, Psidium guajava, and Terminalia catappa in relation to the unpolluted area (SSQ) were 46.63 %, 45.08 %, 45.03 % and 31.9 % respectively. The result from this study showed that the chlorophyll content of the leaves of higher plants could be used to monitor air pollution.
