Prospects of Field Crops for Phytoremediation of Contaminants

Anthropogenic activities have led to increased pollution of soil all over the world. These pollutants can be either organic (e.g., PCBs, PAHs, fertilizers, pesticides) or inorganic pollutants including various heavy metals (e.g., Cd, Cu, As, Zn, Hg, Pb). Phytoremediation is a green technology in which plants are used to clean up pollutants from water and soil. This environmentally friendly and cost-effective technology is now focusing on higher plants with large biomass that have a high tolerance to pollutants. Due to low shoot and root growth of hyperaccumulator plants, phytoremediation study has moved toward the high biomass species such as herbaceous field crops. Field crops may have low metal concentrations, but they compensate this with their high biomass yield. Various amendments, such as use of chelating agents, plant growth-promoting bacteria, plant growth-promoting hormones, and mycorrhizae, can be used to increase the phytoremediation potential of field crops. Molecular techniques used to produce transgenic plants also show promise for the efficient use of field crops for phytoremediation. Thus, due to the higher growth potential of field crops compared to hyperaccumulators, phytoremediation efficiency should be thought of as a future significant remediation tool.