Metals, Crops and Agricultural Productivity: Impact of Metals on Crop Loss

Agriculture plays a vital role in uplifting the lives of farmers and also contributes towards the economic prosperity of a nation. In recent years, rapid urbanization and industrialization with enhanced anthropogenic activities has adversely affected our agricultural sector regionally as well as globally. Heavy metal contamination of agricultural lands has not only deteriorated crop quality but has also reduced plant growth, performance and productivity. Heavy metals like Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Chromium and Arsenic are the major environmental pollutants released in the environment either naturally or anthropogenically, having potential to cause serious environmental problems and other health-related issues. Excessive accumulation of heavy metals in crops/plants results in production of reactive oxygen species, which disturbs the redox balance of the system, ultimately leading to peroxidation of lipids, enzyme inactivation, DNA damage, oxidation of proteins and interaction with other vital constituents of the cell. This chapter tries to focus on the sources and impacts of heavy metal stress on crop productivity.