Ozone-induced foliar injury in saplings of Psidium guajava ‘Paluma’ in São Paulo, Brazil

Psidium guajava ‘Paluma’ was evaluated under field conditions as a tropical bioindicator species of ozone (O3). Three exposures of 90 days each were performed (June 21, 2004–March 19, 2005). In each one of them, saplings of ‘Paluma’ (n = 30) were exposed to ambient air at a site in São Paulo (Brazil) with high ozone concentrations, and in a greenhouse with charcoal-filtered air. Ozone-like visible foliar injuries were observed during the winter, spring and summer exposures, when AOT40 reached 6166 ppb h, 3504 ppb h and 4828 ppb h, respectively. No injuries were observed in the plants kept under filtered air. The injuries consisted in red stippling on adaxial leaf surfaces. They did not cover the veins and appeared first in older leaves, becoming more intense as the exposure period increased. Injury incidence, severity, and the cumulative exposure threshold at injury onset varied among the exposure periods. AOT40 explained partly the incidence, severity and leaf injury index LII (r2 = 0.52, 0.39, 0.38, respectively, p = 0.002). The results confirm the potential of the species as an O3-sensitive bioindicator.