Abstract

Many anthropogenic reasons have triggered air pollution, which is growing rapidly at a global scale in the recent Anthropoceneera of rapid industrialization and urbanization. It causes multi-dimensional effects on every single living creature of the earth to a great extent. The authors of the present paper have highlighted its effects on plants. Air pollutants are harmful to plant growth by interfering with resource accumulation. The plant leaves when exposed to the atmospheric pollutants in the form of O₃ and NOx, SO₂, SPM, CO₂, etc affect the metabolic function of the leaves and consequently lead to carbon fixation by the plant canopy. Generally, the plant part above the ground is more likely to be affected by the air pollutants, and this part is of more economic importance, required to sustain dietary requirements, but it affects little the root part also. Moreover, the pollutants cause damage to cuticular waxes by which entering the leaves through stomata. The air pollutants may cause small changes in stomata which may have serious consequences concerning the survival of the plant. Besides, these effects can further lead to disturbing the water balance of the leaf or the physiology of whole plant. The present paper deals with the effect of air pollutants on plants physiology as well as on plant respiration