Role of plants in phytoremediation of heavy metals from contaminated soils: A review

Abstract

Heavy metal are the major pollutants which inhibit the growth and development of the plant and other crops, they are also responsible for the adverse effect on human and environment. Phytoextraction, rhizofiltration and phytovolatilization are the methods which remove the heavy metals from the soil and reduce their negative effect on soil as well crops. Sunflower, soyabean, B. juncea, brinjal, T. rotundifolia sub spp. etc are the plants which extract the different heavy metals from soil through their developed roots and this method of metals extraction from soil is cheap and ecofriendly which is far better than the other expensive methods. Induced phytoextraction method may increase the metal content in soil because they dissolve water soluble contents. The extracted metal contents are accumulated in the leaves of the crop which can easily be analyzed by instrument in laboratory. The phytoextraction and other technique eventually increase the productivity of the land.