Impact Assessment of Atmospheric Dust on Foliage Pigments and Pollution Resistances of Plants Grown Nearby Coal Based Thermal Power Plants Manisha Hariram 1 • Ravi Sahu 1 • Suresh Pandian Elumalai 1 Received: 11 June 2017 / Accepted: 28 August 2017 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2017 Abstract Plant species grown in the vicinity of thermal power plants (TPP) are one of the immobile substrates to sink most of the pollutants emitted from their stacks. The continuous exposure of toxic pollutants to these plants may affect their resistances and essential biochemical’s con- centrations. In the present study, we estimated the impact of dust load generated by a TPPs to plant’s dust retention capacity and pollution resistances (APTI and API). The observed ambient air quality index (AQI) showed that the surroundings of TPPs are in the severe air pollution cate- gory. Observed AQI was greater than 100 in the sur- rounding area of TPP. The mean dust load on plant foliage was significantly greater in the polluted site compared with the control site: 4.45 ± 1.96 versus 1.38 ± 0.41 mg cm -2 . Nearby, TPP highest and lowest dust load were founded in F. benghalensis (7.58 ± 0.74) and F. religiosa (2.25 ± 0.12 mg cm -2 ) respectively. Analysis revealed the strong negative correlation between dust load and essential pigments of foliage, such as chlorophyll content, carotenoids, pH of foliage extract, and relative water con- tent. Conversely, strong positive correlation was observed with the ascorbic acid content of plant species. Correlation and percentage change analysis in ascorbic acid content for the polluted site against the control site showed the adverse impact on plants due to dust load. Based on their responses to dust pollution, A. scholaris, P. longifolia, and M. indica were observed as most suitable plant species. Estimation of DRC, chlorophyll a/b ratio, APTI and API revealed the A. scholaris, F. benghalensis, P. longifolia, and M. indica as the most suitable plant species for green belt formation. The high gradation was obtained in A. scholaris, F. beng- halensis, P. longifolia, and M. indica for opted parameters and showed their most suitability for green belt formation. Salient features of the present study provide useful evi- dences to estimate the combined effect of DRC and pol- lution resistances of plant species on green belt establishment for long-term environmental management around industries. Developing countries, such as India, have undergone high industrialization and urbanization to achieve better eco- nomic growth. Developmental activities are associated with an increase in energy demands. As a consequence, power generation in India has increased manifold in recent decades to fulfill the industrial, domestic, and agricultural electricity requirements. As per central electricity authority report in 2017 (CEA 2017), total installed capacity for electricity generation in India is 329,231 MW. Coal-based thermal power plants (TPPs) contribute to approximately 59.1% (194,553 MW) of the total capacity. In general, the coal used in Indian TPPs is of low-grade quality due to high ash content. Combustion of these coals in TPPs con- tributes to high emission of airborne particulates, especially fly ash, into the atmosphere. Eventually, the released fly ash from TPPs undergoes physical and chemical transfor- mation in the environment. Usually, the area adjacent to the pollution sources (e.g., TPPs) is identified by its fly ash in higher concentrations in nearby local environments. & Suresh Pandian Elumalai suresh.pe.ese@ismdhanbad.ac.in Manisha Hariram mnshaverma10@gmail.com Ravi Sahu sahu.ravi14@gmail.com 1 Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand 826004, India 123 Arch Environ Contam Toxicol DOI 10.1007/s00244-017-0446-1