Effect of marble dust on plants around Vishwakarma Industrial Area (VKIA) in Jaipur, India.

The paper describes the effect of marble dust on plants in and around Vishwakarma Industrial Area (VKIA) Jaipur, Rajasthan (India). Trees species growing in and around VKIA area were selected and various morphological characteristics were studied such as leaf area dry weight ratio (LADWR), Dust retaining capacity (DRC) and Chlorophyll content. In the study the effects of marble dust on selected tree species was observed. LADWR was recorded maximunm 217.90 cm2 g-1 dry wt. in Polyalthia longifolia in VKIA and minimum 98.74 cm2 g-1 dry wt. in Ficus religiosa in Nindar whereas The DRC was observed maximum 178.51 mg cm-2 in Azadirachta indica in VKIA as well as minimum recorded 66.41 mg cm-2 in Thevetie pervvianain in Vidyadher Nagar. However the Total Chlorophyll Content was also determined and it was found maximum in Bougainvillea i.e. 2.949 mg g-1 (fresh wt.) in VKIA whereas minimum for Nindar i.e. 0.784 mg g-1 (fresh wt.) in Ficus religiosa.