Amit Awasthi

Effects of agriculture crop residue burning on children and young on PFTs in North West India.

Variations in pulmonary function tests (PFTs) due to agriculture crop residue burning (ACRB) on children between the age group of 10 to 13 years and the young between 20 to 35 years are studied. The effects of exposure to smoke due to rice-wheat crop residue burning on pulmonary functions like Force Vital Capacity (FVC), Force Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV(1)), Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF) and Force Expiratory Flow in 25 to 75% of FVC (FEF(25-75%)) on 40 healthy subjects of rural/agricultural area of Sidhuwal village of Patiala City were investigated for a period from August 2008 to July 2009. Measurements were taken by spirometry according to the American Thoracic Society standards. High volume sampler (HVS) and Anderson Impactor were used to measure the concentration levels of SPM, PM(10) and PM(2.5) in ambient air of the Sidhuwal village. A significant increase in the concentration levels of SPM, PM(10) and PM(2.5) was observed due to which PFTs of the subjects showed a significant decrease in their values, more prominently in the case of children. PFTs of young subjects recovered up to some extent after the completion of burning period but the PFT values of children remained significantly lower (p<0.001) even after the completion of burning episodes. Small size particulate matter (PM(2.5) and PM(10)) affected the PFTs to a large extent in comparison to the large size particulate matter (SPM). The study indicates that ACRB is a serious environmental health hazard and children are more sensitive to air pollution, as ACRB poses some unrecoverable influence on their PFTs.

Effects of air pollution on respiratory parameters during the wheat-residue burning in Patiala.

Effects of pollution produced by wheat-residue burning on respiratory parameters of healthy inhabitants were investigated for two consecutive wheat cultivation periods (February–July in 2007 and 2008) at Patiala city of Punjab, India. A total of 51 selected subjects of the age group 13–53 were selected from five sites of Patiala for pulmonary function tests (PFTs), including force vital capacity (FVC), force expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), peak expiratory flow (PEF) and force expiratory flow between 25 to 75% of FVC (FEF25–75%) using a spirometer. High volume samplers (HVS) and an Andersen cascade impactor were also used to measure the concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM) and particulate matter (PM) of size less than 10 μm. PFTs show significant decrease and particulate matter shows a significant increase during the burning period of wheat residue. Decrease in FVC and FEV1 did not recover even after completion of the exhaustive burning period this is a more serious concern then PEF and FEF25–75%. The results showed that the public exposure to relatively high levels of pollutants during the exhaustive burning period of wheat residue influences the PFTs of even healthy inhabitants.

Effects of exposure to rice-crop residue burning smoke on pulmonary functions and Oxygen Saturation level of human beings in Patiala (India)

Pulmonary Function Tests (PFTs) like Force Vital Capacity (FVC), Force Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV₁), Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF) and Force Expiratory Flow between 25 and 75% of FVC (FEF(25-75%)) and Oxygen Saturation (SpO₂) level of 50 healthy inhabitants with respect to rice crop residue burning were investigated for three rice cultivation periods from 2007 to 2009. The subjects were residents of five sampling sites selected in Patiala city. Concentration of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM), Sulfur dioxide (SO₂), Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and Particulate Matter (PM) of size less than 10 and 2.5 μm (PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅) were measured by using High Volume Sampler (HVS) and Cascade Anderson Impactor. Results show that rice crop residue burning increases the pollution level in the ambient air, and PFTs undergo a significant decrease in their respective values. No significant change was seen in SpO₂ level during rice crop residue burning. In 2008, an increase of 10 μg m⁻³ in PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, SPM and NO₂ was associated significantly with decrease in FVC in percentages predicted -1.541, -1.002, -1.178, -0.232%, respectively. The decrease in air quality due to open rice crop residue burning has sub acute effect on pulmonary functions of healthy subjects and that SO₂ and NO₂ have less adverse effects on pulmonary functions than with different size Particulate Matter.

Impact of rice crop residue burning on levels of SPM, SO2 and NO2 in the ambient air of Patiala (India)

Ground-based ambient air monitoring was conducted at five different locations in and around Patiala city (29°49′–30°47′N Latitude, 75°58′–76°54′E Longitude) in Northern India in order to determine the impact of open burning of rice (Oriza sativa) crop residues on concentration levels of suspended particulate matter (SPM), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Covering sensitive, residential, agricultural, commercial and urban areas, sampling of these pollutants was organised during August 2006 to January 2007 and August 2007 to January 2008 casing two rice crop residue burning periods (October–November) using a high volume sampling technique combined with gaseous sampling systems. Gravimetric analysis was used in the estimation of total suspended particulate matter (TSPM) whereas SO2 and NO2 concentration was determined using spectrophotometer (Specord205, Analytikjena). Monthly average concentrations of SPM, SO2 and NO2 have shown significant up and down features at all the selected sampling sites during the study period. Monthly average concentrations (24 hour) of SPM, SO2 and NO2 varied from 100 ± 11 µg m−3 to 547 ± 152 µg m−3, 5 ± 4 µg m−3 to 55 ± 34 µg m−3 and 9 ± 5 µg m−3 to 91 ± 39 µg m−3. Substantially higher concentrations were recorded at the commercial area site as compared to the other sampling sites for all the targeted air pollutants. Levels of SPM, SO2 and NO2 showed clear increase during the burning months (October–November) incorporated with the effect of meteorological parameters especially wind direction, precipitation and atmospheric temperature.

Epidemiological study on healthy subjects affected by agriculture crop-residue burning episodes and its relation with their pulmonary function tests

Impact of agriculture crop-residue burning (ACRB) was studied on pulmonary function tests (PFTs) of 50 healthy subjects (13–53 years). Human subjects with no previous history of lung disease were residents of five sampling sites. Investigations were carried out from February 2007 to January 2010 using spirometry. Simultaneously, concentration levels of suspended particulate matter (PM) and fine particulates (PM2.5 and PM10) were monitored using high volume sampler and Anderson Cascade Impactor, respectively. The PFTs show a significant (p < 0.05) decrease, while PM shows momentous increase during exhaustive burning of wheat and rice crop residues. Effect of ACRB on the peak expiratory flow rate (PEF) is more than that on force expiratory flow (FEF25–75%). The PEF and FEF25–75% recovered to some extent on completion of burning period, while PFTs like force vital capacity and force expiratory volume did not show a significant improvement. Due to greater concentration of fine particulates during rice crop-residue burning (CRB) than wheat CRB, there was a greater effect on pulmonary functions. The ACRB, in general, poses more effect on the lower and upper age groups in comparison to the middle age group subjects. All the analyses are well supported with large significant levels (p < 0.05) obtained by using the paired t-test.

Chemical Characterization of Atmospheric Particulate Matter for K, Cu, Niand Zn Metals Collected from Agricultural, Semi-Urban and CommercialLocations in NW India

Atmospheric particulate samples (comprising ≤ 100 micron size particles) were collected from different locations in Patiala, India during 2006-2007 covering rural, agricultural, urban, semi-urban, residential and commercial areas. These samples were analysed to measure the concentration of potassium, copper, nickel and zinc metals by using atomic absorption spectrophotometer and flame photometer. Average monthly concentration of particulate matter varied between 100 ± 30 μgm-3-593 ± 181 μgm-3 during the study period with higher levels in the month of April-May during summers and October-November. Around 80% samples were loaded with SPM>200 μgm-3. Concentration of Cu, Ni and Zn varied between 0.05 μgm-3 -1.45 μgm-3 while K concentration levels varied between 4.5 μgm-3 -20.2 μgm-3 with 60% samples having concentration>10 μgm-3. Monthly averaged SPM concentration levels were compared with the levels of selected metals. Results indicated significant spatial variation in the ambient air levels of SPM, Cu, Ni, Zn and K.