RHIZOSPHERE MICROBES AS BIOSORBENTS FOR HEAVY METAL REMOVAL

ABSTRACT

Intense industrial activity in the twentieth century, particularly in developing nations, has resulted in significant environmental pollution, resulting in a vast number and variety of polluted sites that pose a threat to the surrounding ecology. Metal pollution has become one of the most serious environmental problems today as a result of human activities such as metal mining and smelting, electroplating, gas exhaust, energy and fuel production, fertilizer, sewage and pesticide application, municipal waste generation, and so on (Kabata-Pendias and Pendias, 2000). Most plants are affected by an excessive buildup of heavy metals. Heavy metal ions are disproportionately absorbed by roots and translocate to shoots when present at high levels in the environment, resulting in decreased metabolism and growth. In recent years, phytoremediation has gained a lot of market acceptance. Phytoremediation technology appears to be a potential cleanup solution for a wide range of metal-contaminated locations, albeit it does have limitations, according to preliminary study. The rhizosphere is a biologically active zone of the soil around plant roots that contains soil-borne microorganisms including bacteria and fungi. Plant–microbe interactions in the rhizosphere can be advantageous to the plant, the microbes or to neither of them.