Cadmium toxicity impacts plant growth and plant remediation strategies

Heavy metal (HM) contamination in agricultural soils has become a prime concern for today's society, as it entails environmental risks. Cadmium (Cd) is extremely toxic and carcinogenic, as it shows devastating effects on human health, and crop growth and productivity. Plants are the main source of heavy metal entry into the food chain, which originates due to anthropogenic activities (mining, smelting, and sewage sludge), results in enhanced Cd contamination in the environment. In crops, Cd antagonistically competes with nutrients acquisition and disturb plant physiological attributes, thus restricting plant survival in polluted soils. Therefore, a comprehensive review of environmentally friendly management practices for Cd-resilience crops is of utmost urgency. Thus, in this review we aim to advance our understanding in an integrated way to remediate heavy metals, identifying Cd-tolerant cultivars, selective breeding of low Cd-accumulating cultivars, Cd-tolerant plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria. Moreover, to understand molecular mechanisms and identify genes potentially implicated in Cd-tolerance with the final aim of engineering a perfect bioremediation ensemble to be used in the recovery of polluted soils, agroecosystems restoration, the reduction of environmental, and food-feed-associated risks, and ultimately protecting animal and human health. This may help to determine the ecological importance of Cd pollution in interdisciplinary studies and offers crucial remediation strategies to prevent the dispersion of Cd contamination in agricultural soils, to ensure global food security problems.

Automated summary

Heavy metal contamination in agricultural soils poses risks to the environment and food chain. Cadmium is harmful to human health and crop growth, limiting plant survival in polluted soils. Therefore, a comprehensive review on environmentally friendly management practices for Cd-resilience crops is urgently needed.