Читать книгу Environmental and Agricultural Microbiology - Группа авторов - Страница 13

Prithu Baruah and Neha Chaurasia*

Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India

Abstract

With the increasing world’s population, enhancement of crop production has become a major target for mankind survival. This leads to extensive use of agrochemicals which has revolutionized the entire pest control system. However, due to their uncontrolled use, the equilibrium between their beneficial effects and harmful consequences has been compromised which lead to severe environmental havoc. To combat their hazardous influences, several remediation methods such as adsorption and ultrasonic irradiation have been developed. But unfortunately, most of them are not cost-effective and environment-friendly. As a result, bioremediation has become a potential alternative to these remediation methods being less expensive and eco-friendly. Microalgae have recently received sufficient attention as a bioremediation candidate due to their cheap nutritional requirements (solar light and CO₂) and versatile metabolic activities. The microalgae-based remediation technologies are ecologically more comprehensive and can be integrated with several other technologies such as biofuel production and carbon mitigation. Regardless of these conveniences, a critical scrutiny of the current status of the technology is required to get an in-depth insight into the applicability of microalgae for remediation of pollutants. The present article is an attempt to provide a crucial look into the microalgae-based removal of agricultural pollutants and an outline of its mechanistic perspectives. Also, molecular aspects of bioremediation by microalgae have been discussed to provide a better understanding of its remediation capabilities.

Keywords: Microalgae, phycoremediation, agrochemicals, metabolism, agriculture, fertilizers, pesticides, environmental pollution