Mitigation strategies for heavy metal toxicity and its negative effects on soil and plants

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution threatens food security by accumulating in crops and soils, posing a significant challenge to modern agriculture due to its high toxicity. Urgent action is needed to restore affected agricultural fields. An efficient way to remove toxins is by bioremediation, which uses microorganisms. With the purpose of restoring soil in agriculture, this research attempts to assemble a consortium of microorganisms isolated from techno-genic soil. A number of promising strains, including Pseudomonas putida, Pantoea sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella oxytoca, and Agrobacterium tumefaciens were chosen based on their capacity to eliminate heavy metals from tests. Heavy metal removal (Cd, Hg, As, Pb, and Ni) and phytohormone production have been shown to be effective using consortiums (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella oxytoca, and Agrobacterium tumefaciens in a 1:1:2). In instances with mixed heavy-metal contamination, aeruginosa demonstrated efficacy because of its notable ability to absorb substantial quantities of heavy metals. The capacity of the cooperation to improve phytoremediation was investigated, with an emphasis on soil cleanup in agricultural areas. When combined with Sorghum bicolor L., it was able to remove roughly 16% As, 14% Hg, 32% Ni, 26% Cd, and 33% Pb from the soil.

NOVELTY STATEMENT

Revolutionizing soil restoration, harnessing microbial consortia for effective heavy metal remediation, consortium D’s remarkable capacity to combat mixed heavy metal contamination, and elevating phytoremediation potential by 16% As, 14% Hg, 32% Ni, 26% Cd, and 33% Pb removal are promising steps toward sustainable agriculture and enhanced food security.

Keywords:

• Bioremediation
• environmental pollution
• soil and plant ecology
• Heavy metals biomass
• phytoremediation
• polluted soil

Author contributions

Q. Li conducted the experiment, collected the data, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript, while Imran revised the manuscript, edited and submitted for publication.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

Quanheng Li acknowledges the Geochemical Survey of Land Quality in Chuxiong, China, DD20208070 for funding.