Pesticide Pollution in Agricultural Soils and Sustainable Remediation Methods: a Review

Abstract

An increasing number of pesticides have been used in agriculture for protecting the crops from pests, weeds, and diseases but as much as 80 to 90% of applied pesticides hit non-target vegetation and stay as pesticide residue in the environment which is potentially a grave risk to the agricultural ecosystem. This review gives an overview of the pollution in agricultural soils by pesticides, and the remediation techniques for pesticide-contaminated soils. Currently, the remediation techniques involve physical, chemical, and biological remediation as well as combined ways for the removal of contaminants. The microbial functions in rhizosphere including gene analysis tools are fields in remediation of pesticide-contaminated soil which has generated a lot of interest lately. However, most of those studies were done in greenhouses; more research work should be done in the field conditions for proper evaluation of the efficiency of the proposed techniques. Long-term monitoring and evaluation of in situ remediation techniques should also be done in order to assess their long-term sustainability and practical applications in the field.

Evidence of uptake of different pollutants in plants harvested from soil treated and fertilized with organic materials as source of soil nutrients from developing countries

“…The aim is to improve soil fertility and nutrient supply to crops. However, some organic materials have been documented to contain toxic pollutants and the cumulative loading of these toxic pollutants in agricultural soil may pose significant risk to the ecological functions of soils, plant growth and human health [5].…”

N2O-respiring bacteria in biogas digestates for reduced agricultural emissions

“…Our approach suggests one avenue for a much needed valorization of organic wastes (Peng and Pivato 2019) via anaerobic digestion. Future developments of this approach could extend beyond the scope of climate change mitigation and include the enrichment of microbes for pesticide-and other organic pollutant degradation (Sun et al 2018), plant growth promotion (Backer et al 2018) and inoculation of other plant symbiotic bacteria (Poole et al 2018).…”

Nanobiotechnology in Agricultural Sector: Overview and Novel Applications

“…As previously mentioned, pesticides are an essential key part of agriculture, since they allow the growth of crops by protecting them from pests that causes major loses on yields [48]. With that being said, one major challenge that humans face these days is the restoration of contaminated soil, water and air to reach a quality level in which Journal of Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology they no longer represent an environmental and health harm [51] [52].…”