Recent Strides in Sustainable Agriculture and Organic Farming (Volume 1)

PAID ACCESS | Published on : 06-Mar-2025

Heavy Metals on Crops and Food

  • Raveena Ravi
  • Department of Environmental Sciences, TNAU, Coimbatore, India.
  • Bharani A
  • Department of Environmental Sciences, TNAU, Coimbatore, India.
  • Naman Sharma
  • Department of Environmental Sciences, TNAU, Coimbatore, India.
  • Nikil S
  • CFEES Laboratory, DRDO, New Delhi, India.

Abstract

Globally industrialization has put on pressure on the environment through contaminating the components of the environment. The issues related to these anthropogenic activities have caused numerous impacts affecting the life on the earth. One such pollutant is the heavy metals, being released into the environment through either industries or agricultural activities or urbanization (city refuse both liquid and solid) all contributing to heavy metal pollution. Many biological and metabolic systems in people may be disrupted by long-term consumption of heavy metals in hazardous amounts through diet. An in-depth analysis of the impact of harmful heavy metals on plants has been carried out by researchers throughout the world. The effects of microbial remediation and phytoremediation and their application to remove contaminants from metal polluted areas and highlighting the biotechnological approaches for heavy metal and metalloid concentration removal from the environment. Also, several novel research have been conducted using omics technologies to understand the genetic influences and underlying processes in plant heavy metal tolerance. The improvements in tolerance and metals accumulation in some plant species have been made possible by altering several heavy metals transporters. In order to prevent an excessive build-up of heavy metals in the body, it is advised that persons who reside in severely polluted metropolitan regions avoid eating significant quantities of these foods.

Keywords

Heavy metals, Bioremediation, Phytoremediation, Biomarkers, Nano remediation

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