PHYSIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL STUDIES ON SOME FRUIT TREES GROWN AROUND DESERT HIGH WAYS

Abstract

This work has been done to in vestigate the effect of roads pollution (motor vehicles exhausted gases which conta i n high levels of lead and other toxic heavy metals) on the adjacent environment and fruit product safety. Three orchards adjacent to Cairo-Alex desert road which containing 5 fruit crops of different botanical taxonomy were chosen to conduct such research. The impact of pollution on soil, tree 's leaves and fntits of 160 randomly selected trees were thoroughly studied. The obtained results showed that the road adjacent orchard trees and soil are deepl y suffered from pollution than those at larger distances from the road. Results of the shtdy revealed that morphological changes of the trees, chemical properties of leaves and fntits as well as heavy metals content are affected by expos ure to the precipitated dust, and correlated with the distance from the road. The shtdy also recommended that the cultivation of the farms adjacent to vehicles roads should be at a distance not less than 100 m. from the beginning of cultivated such roads.