Phytoremediation- a novel approach for environmental clean up

Environmental pollution has been on the rise in the past few decades owing to increased human activities on energy reservoirs, population explosion, unsafe agricultural practices, deforestation, and rapid industrialization. Heavy metals, nuclear wastes, pesticides, greenhouse gases, and hydrocarbons are among the contaminants that cause environmental and public health concerns. Due to these toxic contaminants the ecological system is severely compromised. Contaminants are projected to linger for decades to centuries at many of these sites, providing requirements and challenges for long-term monitoring. Surface water, sediment, and groundwater contamination at some locations cost millions of dollars per year to maintain. Phytoremediation is an emerging technology helping to clean the soil and water bodies from noxious pollutants. Remediation of polluted sites using traditional as well as biotechnologically modified plants has proven effective and reliable due to its eco-friendly features. A variety of pollutants have been successfully treated using wetlands, grasslands, crops, and tree plantations. The ability to pick plants and other creatures with optimal activities to transform or accumulate pollutants requires understanding of the genetic and proteomic diversity required to apply sustainable ecosystems. Phytoremediation schemes involving bioenergy crops, medicinal, aromatic, and ornamental plants, as well as metal hyperaccumulators, can be utilised to produce bioenergy, decorative materials, hardwood, medicinal and fragrant compounds, and metal recovery, resulting in increased financial opportunities. When combined with technologies like bioremediation and genetic engineering, phytoremediation's environmental clean-up efficiency exhibits exponential benefits.