Identification of Suitable Trees Species to Combat Particulate Matter Mediated Air Pollution in Mysore (India)

Particulate matter (PM) mediated air pollution is a global problem, especially in urban setting. PM enters from various stationary and mobile sources in the air. Trees are considered as one of the most efficient and sustainable solutions for such air pollution. Mysore is a heritage tourist city of India, having road side trees at a large scale. In the present study, attempts have been made investigate the variation in PM scavenging potential and air pollution tolerance index (APTI) of trees and find out the most suitable tree species to combat PM mediated air pollution. The variation in accumulation of quantity of different sized PM (PM>11, PM>2.5, PM<2.5) from air and effect of size of leaf on PM accumulation have also been explored. FTIR spectra, being non-destructive and high sensitive technique, have also been used to look into interaction between PM and the leaf surface. At the best of our knowledge, it is the first report to where interaction of leaf surface and PM has been explored in Mysore using FTIR. The findings of the present study are: 1) the tree species varied in accumulation of all three types of PM fractions; 2) the three species also varied in their APTI value; 3) there is no significant correlation between all three fractions of PM and APTI in the tree species; 4) based on ANOVA and cluster analysis it is concluded that out of the 25 tree species studied, under present situation of air pollution prevailing in Mysore preference of plant protection and plantation may be as follows: Peltophorum pterocarpum > Cascabela thevetia and Ceiba pentandra > Callistemon lanceolatus > Terminalia arjuna > Swietenia mahagoni; 5) the small and medium sized leaves of Peltophorum pterocarpum have the better potential to capture PM; and 6) from the comparative FTIR spectral studies it is evident that PM has H-bonding with leaf surface. © University of Tehran 2026.