Phytoremediation of Chemical Pollutants and Toxic Metals by Bacteria and Plant-Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria

In today’s world, with the rapid progress in the industrial sector, heavy metal pollution has increased greatly across the world, further exaggerated by climate change and irrigated agriculture. Lead, arsenic, and cadmium are the names of a few heavy metals that can induce adverse health effects like hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, reproductive diseases, and even cancer. Many countries are highly polluted with heavy metals. In India, one of the major sources of arsenic poisoning is through consumption of rice contaminated with arsenic and, thus, a large population is under the threat of arsenic poisoning. To overcome this crisis, the phytoremediation process is highly recommended by researchers for the management of these hazardous metals, which is an ecologically safe and cost-effective technique. Some plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) play a key role in the growth of plants and even augment the phytoremediation procedure by their interaction. Thus, the chapter aims to recognize the vital function of plant growth-promoting bacteria in enhancing the process of phytoremediation of heavy metals.