Soil Fungi for Bioremediation of Pesticide Toxicants: A Perspective

Abstract

Soil is the basis of all agroecosystem and its health is of utmost importance for the better productivity and sustainability of agriculture but soil health is constantly deteriorating due to the addition of xenobiotic compounds by various agronomicals and industrial applications. Pesticides are widely used throughout the world for controlling the spread of various pests in agroecosystem but the persistent nature and non-targeted toxicity of the compounds have also become the major concern for agroecosystem and is directly hampering the yield of agricultural produce. Hence, removal of these substances is of utmost importance and a variety of approaches are in progress. Currently, the use of biological resources for the removal and degradation of these substances has emerged as a powerful tool. Numerous bacterial and fungal species with degradation ability have been tried and established but very few attempts are made to make a comprehensive evaluation of the potential of these agents. This review thrusts on the bioremediation efficiency of soil fungi with an aim to make a comparative analysis and to critically evaluate their potential application in the field. The species of Aspergillus, Allescheriella, Alternaria, Microsporum, Penicillium, Phlebia, Paecilomyces, Trichoderma, etc. are known for their bioremediation potential. But Aspergillus species are the most widely used for degrading almost all types of pesticides.

Keywords:

• Soil fungi
• bioremediation
• pesticides
• agroecosystem
• soil health

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the STD, and OHEPEE, Government of Odisha for their support and DST, Government of India for infrastructure grant under DST-FIST programme to the Department.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.