Microbial assisted phytoremediation for heavy metal contaminated soils

Abstract

Increasing water crisis across the globe, farmers are forced to use marginal quality water for agricultural activities mainly for crop production. Marginal quality water contains lots of contamination load, i.e. microbial population, heavy metals; and caused a range of diseases through food chain contamination. The long-term application of contaminated water accumulate significant amount of heavy metals mostly in industrial regions as well as peri-urban area in developing countries. Use of various phytoremediation technologies for the removal of organic and inorganic pollutant from soil and water are used across the earth boundaries. Among all, bioremediation is a cheaper and more viable technology for the removal of contaminants from contaminated sites. Phytoremediation is a viable, low cost and green technology having a slow process of metal remediation and affecting by the climatic conditions of a particular region. In this regards, use of soil microbial biomass for the decontamination of heavy metals and other contaminated load from soils. The plant-microbe-modulated phytoremediation enhancing the heavy metal remediation, detoxification and mediated the plant nutrient dynamics in a sustainable manner. The soil organic matter decomposition and biogeochemical cycles of plant nutrients are mainly governed by the rhizospheric biomass of the soil. Microbial assisted phytoremediation is a holistic novel approach for the remediation of contaminants. It can use for the location specific contaminant, easy to operate, eco-friendly in nature. In this chapter, described the role and interaction effect of plant assisted microbes in heavy metal removal from contaminated soils.