Environmental perspectives of Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash

The twentieth century witnessed indiscriminate usage of natural resources for energy generation and xenobiotic chemical compounds for sustainability in agriculture and infrastructural development. Heavy metal and non-degradable chemical contamination of soil and water is one of the major environmental threats. In recent years, worldwide researchers are concentrating on the exploration of various sustainable methods to mitigate such environmental contamination. Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash), a grass, is a proven source to mitigate such pollution, and in present days is one of the most recent thrust areas for the purpose of environmental mitigation. Unique morphology, physiology and symbiotic association render vetiver capable of tolerating environmental extremities. In addition, vetiver is also helpful in degradation of most of the recalcitrant compounds such as benzo[a]pyrene. The present review reflects the environmental perspectives of vetiver grass, a potential field which led the World Bank to initiate vetiver grass technology (VGT), which is now known as vetiver system (VS), in India and most of the other Asian countries to restore the natural environmental conditions.