Heavy metal accumulation in soil has been rapidly enhanced due to various natural processes and anthropogenic (industrial) activities. As heavy metals are non-biodegradable, they persist in the environment and have potential to enter the food chain through crop plants, and eventually may accumulate in the human body through biomagnification. Owing to their toxic nature, heavy metal contamination has posed a serious threat to human health and the ecosystem. Therefore, remediation of land contamination is of paramount importance. Phytoremediation is an eco-friendly approach that could be a successful mitigation measure to revegetate heavy metal-polluted soil in a cost-effective way. 

Heavy metals are non-degradable by any biological or physical process and are persistent in the soil for a long period, which pose a long-term threat for the environment. Phytoremediation is a plant-based approach, which involves the use of plants to extract and remove elemental pollutants or lower their bioavailability in soil. Plants have the abilities to absorb ionic compounds in the soil even at low concentrations through their root system. Plants extend their root system into the soil matrix and establish rhizosphere ecosystem to accumulate heavy metals and modulate their bioavailability, thereby reclaiming the polluted soil and stabilizing soil fertility. There are advantages of using phytoremediation, which include: (i) economically feasible—phytoremediation is an autotrophic system powered by solar energy, therefore, simple to manage, and the cost of installation and maintenance is low, (ii) environment and eco-friendly—it can reduce exposure of the pollutants to the environment and ecosystem, (iii) applicability—it can be applied over a large-scale field and can easily be disposed, (iv) it prevents erosion and metal leaching through stabilizing heavy metals, reducing the risk of spreading of contaminants, (v) it can also improve soil fertility by releasing various organic matters to the soil.

 To sum up there are various technique used for reducing heavy metal pollutants. Hence, Phytoremediation has been proven to be a promising technique for revegetation of heavy metal-polluted soil with a good public acceptance and shows a variety of advantages compared with other physicochemical techniques.                            Reference:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.00359/full Google, picture courtesy : google