The effect of vehicular air pollution on leaf anatomical characters of some fruit-bearing trees (cause study: traditional Qazvin gardens)

Background and Objective: Air pollution, especially the portion related to Motor vehicles, is a serious problem in many heavily polluted areas in the world. This investigation was conducted to study the effects of the air pollution on the anatomical structure of leaf in some valuable fruit-bearing trees in Traditional Qazvin gardens. Materials and Methods: In this study, 72 leaf samples were randomly collected from the contaminated and control areas from traditional Qazvin gardens in 2018. Three leaves of each sample were selected randomly and were submerged into the fixative solution. Then the samples were sliced using a microtome after embedding in the paraffin. Staining was carried out with hematoxylin and eosin. Measurements at cellular levels were performed by Image J. Data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software. Comparison of the means was done by Duncan's test and the charts were drown using Excel. Results: The thickness of the lower cuticle of the main leaf's vein was significantly increased in both plants. The leaf thickness and length of palisade parenchyma in the polluted areas were increased in Juglans regia in comparison to Pistacia vera. In addition, the resin duct's diameter of the leaves of the P. vera was significantly decreased as compared with those of the control areas. Conclusion: The results revealed some of the negative effects of air pollution on the anatomical structure of the leaves, and on several various resistance mechanisms of them. In conclusion, the metabolism of the plants can be affected by air pollution and consequently their consumers health may be at risk.