NEGATIVE FEEDBACKS DUE TO PRESENCE OF HEAVY METALS AND AGRICULTURAL TOXICANTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: A SOIL QUALITY PERSPECTIVE

Nowadays, environmental pollution is a crucial issue that humans are facing repeatedly. Population growth, urban development, industrial expansion, and irregular/excessive interventions of human in nature have all contributed to the rapid environmental degradation. Most of the important soil contaminants are heavy metals, mainly resulting from human activities like mining, industrial waste materials, vehicle emissions, herbicide and detergent application, fuel/energy manufacture, urban wastes, fertilizers, paints, etc. Mercury, arsenic, cadmium, lead and chromium are the most prevalent pollutants responsible for environmental pollution, in particular, rhizosphere zone and adversely affect the health of the ecosystem. Chemical substances, hazardous waste materials, domestic waste and sewage directly and/or indirectly impact soil texture and structure in a way that at later stages mitigate the decomposition activity of soil microorganisms and eventually make the soil infertile. Recently, several studies have been conducted across the globe over possible remediation approaches to successfully reduce the soil contaminations (SC). This review strives to reemphasize the SC issue, its effect on ecosystem health, efficient methods leading to removal of the heavy metals of contaminated soils, and rehabilitation and retrieval of soil resources in such a way that the soil can be used for healthily agricultural purposes.

Soil resources, environment, heavy metals, pollutants, agriculture