Study of the Effect of Air Pollution on Wheat

Wheat is a very important crop of Indian farmers. Most of the people fooding depend upon wheat. There are several eatable food products prepared by wheat. Wheat is cultivated mostly in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Recently in these states industrialization and infrastructure development work are going very fast causing huge amounts of pollutants and particulate entering into the atmosphere. Pollutants are oxide of carbon, oxide of nitrogen, oxide of sulphur, oxide of chlorine, chloride ions, ammonia, organic acids and aldehydes where as particulates are dust, smoke, mist and fog. Particulates are deposited on the surface of wheat. Some of these particulates are hydroscopic in nature. They absorb pollutants and form acids. These acids in turn develop micro electrochemical cell with flower of wheat which destroy flowering of wheat. Other factors are acid rain, global warming and depletion of ozone layer also affect the production of wheat.