New Insight into Sustainable Crop Production and Soil Contamination: Impact on the Environment and Remediation Strategies
摘要
In the agricultural fields, the misutilization of chemical inputs, for maximum crop production from the limited arable land to feed the world’s ever-increasing population, exposed the problem of “soil contamination”. The dominant soil contaminants include heavy metals such as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), and copper (Cu). They are sunk into the soil through agricultural activities and industrial effluents. Soil contaminants such as heavy metals have received massive attention causing an environmental crisis. The accumulation of soil contaminants has emerged since the Green Revolution (GR). It affects plant growth and development thereby degrading the surrounding environment. This chapter focuses on how agricultural chemical inputs became a source of soil contaminants and the different types of soil contaminants that exist. Furthermore, it focuses on how fertilizers and pesticides produce heavy metals as soil contaminants. Heavy metal bioaccumulation and transformation in the soil, plants, and environment are also explored. Soil contaminants impact sustainable agriculture and human health has been analyzed. Various reclamation measures for heavy metals as soil contaminants in different types of soil have been discussed. We then discussed two biological remedial approaches: phytoremediation and micro-remediation. The importance of biological measures over physical and chemical remedial measures has been explained. In this chapter we also discussed the importance of soil contamination reclamation environmentally, economically, and socially and its role in achieving a sustainable environment. Finally, we concluded the chapter by identifying some research challenges and promising approaches toward sustainable agriculture without compromising crop productivity and environmental friendliness.