Mercury Contamination and It’s Dynamics in Soil–Plant Systems

Mercury (Hg) is a naturally occurring heavy metal with wide distribution in the environment in various forms such as elemental, organic, and inorganic. Higher concentrations of mercury radiation, fluctuates from >6000 to 8000 Mg Hg/year, are regarded as a global contaminant which accumulates in the atmosphere because of anthropogenic and natural processes. The soil, water, and air resources are heavily contaminated by these toxic substances due to their high persistence and toxicity. Hg accumulation within plants magnifies the presence of harmful substances in the food web and has the potential to be genotoxic, neurotoxic, and oncogenic. However, higher Hg concentrations are also harmful to plants as it hampers growth-related attributes and impair their physiological and metabolic activities. Consequently, it promotes the risk to food security and the flow of toxicity from targeted sources towards untargeted sources. However, soil cleaning, solidification, thermal and biological treatments are the main topics of discussion to overcome the Hg mobilization in soil.