Soil-plant Strategies to Enhance Sustainable Agriculture under Metal Stress

Abstract

S USTAINABLE agriculture is hampered by heavy metals (HMs) toxicity, a serious abiotic stress that can seriously impair plant growth and reproduction. HMs such as arsenic, Fe, Mn, Cu, Ni, Co, Cd, Zn, and Hg have long been present in soils due to sewage discharge and industrial waste. While some of these metals are necessary micronutrients that control many routine plant processes, too much of them can be harmful and directly affect senescence, metabolism, physiology, and plant development. Plants are responsible for maintaining the homeostasis of essential metals that they require for survival in addition to protecting themselves from stress. The current review offers a summary of various nutrient management techniques to lessen HMs stress in plants, with an emphasis on ecologically friendly approaches. In order to help plants detoxify and increase their resistance to HM stress, the current review provides comprehensive explanations of how nutrients and fertilizer/biofertilizer react to HMs. To maximize the benefits of these methods, this review highlights the importance of integrating methods from other scientific fields and the need for a better understanding of how metal stress impacts plant physiology and metabolism. A deeper understanding of the role of nano-priming in HM metabolism will help in designing more effective bioremediation strategies to address soil HM contamination.