Use of Biostimulants as a New Approach for the Improvement of Phytoremediation Performance—A Review

Abstract

Environmental pollution is one of the most pressing global issues, and it requires priority attention. Environmental remediation techniques have been developed over the years and can be applied to polluted sites, but they can have limited effectiveness and high energy consumption and costs. Bioremediation techniques, on the other hand, represent a promising alternative. Among them, phytoremediation is attracting particular attention, a green methodology that relies on the use of plant species to remediate contaminated sites or prevent the dispersion of xenobiotics into the environment. In this review, after a brief introduction focused on pollution and phytoremediation, the use of plant biostimulants (PBs) in the improvement of the remediation effectiveness is proposed. PBs are substances widely used in agriculture to raise crop production and resistance to various types of stress. Recent studies have also documented their ability to counteract the deleterious effects of pollutants on plants, thus increasing the phytoremediation efficiency of some species. The works published to date, reviewed and discussed in the present work, reveal promising prospects in the remediation of polluted environments, especially for heavy metals, when PBs derived from humic substances, protein and amino acid hydrolysate, inorganic salts, microbes, seaweed, plant extracts, and fungi are employed.

Natural fermentation of plant tissues as environmental remediation materials to improve soil and enhance plant resistance to cadmium stress

“…In order to alleviate the toxic effects of heavy metals, exogenous agents such as manure, pesticides, biochar, bio-stimulants, or chelators are widely introduced into the soil (Zhang et al 2022a(Zhang et al , 2022b. The above substances not only affect heavy metals in soil, but also play an important role in this soil sphere (Bartucca et al 2022). Biochar is a hot material being widely used recently, which had reduced the Cd enrichment of rice crops at field trials in China (O'Connor et al 2018).…”

Phytoremediation of Potentially Toxic Elements: Role, Status and Concerns

“…Plants interact with the soil, water, air and natural microbial stimulants involved in removing the contaminants [ 79 ]. Plant-based bio-stimulants counteract the adverse effects of pollutants, and improve the antioxidant mechanisms in plant cells that make these plants more resistant to oxidative stresses [ 80 ]. Some of the techniques of phytoremediation on the basis of contaminant fate and mechanism of remediation involved are discussed hereunder.…”

The potential of biostimulants on soil microbial community: a review

“…The methods, including the promotion of biostimulant efficacy, were brought to attention. To obtain the necessary tools that can be employed to exert the efficient biostimulant potential in plants, various reports concentrated on the association of plants and microorganisms, including PGPRs and AMFs (Bartucca et al, 2022).…”