Synergistic Plant-Microbial Rhizosphere Mechanism: A Potential Headway for Remediation of Hydrocarbon Polluted Soils

Soil pollution is an unavoidable evil, many crude-oil exploring communities for example have been identified to be the most ecologically impacted regions due to unavoidable hydrocarbon pollution and their concurrent health risks. Many clean-up methods have been suggested for soil pollution most of which are very expensive, requires integration of advance technologies and/or cannot be implemented in small scale. However, many biological based soil scientists have reported ‘Bioremediation’ (the use of living organisms) as efficient, cost effective and environment friendly clean-up technology. Rhizoremediation (a bioremediation mechanism through which plant’s root degrades organic pollutants in the rhizosphere as assisted with microorganisms). Here, we reviewed the mechanisms and kinetics of Biological Clean-technology and then we suggest the implementation ‘Synergistic Clean-biotechnology’ which involves the exploitation of different living organisms for effective and speedy soil remediation. Plant’s action for example can be synergized with those of soil micro-organisms trough the root rhizosphere to promote soil remediation, in this mechanism, the microorganisms benefit from the root metabolites (exudates) and the plant in turn benefits from the microbial recycling/solubilizing of mineral nutrients that stimulate plant growth and enhancement of enzyme productions which helps detoxification of potentially toxic compounds around the plant roots. Harnessing the abilities of different bioremediation mechanisms is a potential headway for achievable and cheap clean technology for hydrocarbon polluted sites, such technology could be very important in countries with great oil producing activities/records for many years but still developing.