title: Phytoremediation strategies for soils contaminated with heavy metals: Modifications and future perspectives.
abstract: Presence of heavy metals in agricultural soils is of major environmental concern and a great threat to life on the earth. A number of human health risks are associated with heavy metals regarding their entry into food chain. Various physical, chemical and biological techniques are being used to remove heavy metals and metalloids from soils. Among them, phytoremediation is a good strategy to harvest heavy metals from soils and have been proven as an effective and economical technique. In present review, we discussed various sources and harmful effects of some important heavy metals and metalloids, traditional phytoremediation strategies, mechanisms involved in phytoremediation of these metals, limitations and some recent advances in phytoremediation approaches. Since traditional phytoremediation approach poses some limitations regarding their applications at large scale, so there is a dire need to modify this strategy using modern chemical, biological and genetic engineering tools. In view of above, the present manuscript brings both traditional and advanced phytoremediation techniques together in order to compare, understand and apply these strategies effectively to exclude heavy metals from soil keeping in view the economics and effectiveness of phytoremediation strategies.
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), Faisalabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Nadeem
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sarwar
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil Science, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan. Electronic address: mimran106@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imran
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticultural Sciences, University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Rashid
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Shaheen
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), Faisalabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Wajid
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ishaque
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), Faisalabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Asif
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kamran
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, Multan, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Amar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matloob
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil Science, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Abdur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rehim
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China; Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Electronic address: shussain@webmail.hzau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Saddam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hussain
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D058955:Metalloids / Q000378:metabolism*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000378:metabolism*; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D058955:Metalloids; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012989:Soil Pollutants
keywords: Agricultural soils; Environmental pollution; Heavy metals; Microbes; Phytoremediation