The challenges of remediating metals using phytotechnologies

IBAÑEZ SABRINA; WEVAR OLLER ANA L.; PAISIO CINTIA E.; LUCAS SOSA ALDERETE; GONZALEZ PAOLA S; MEDINA MARÍA INÉS; AGOSTINI ELIZABETH

Heavy metals in the environment

CRC Press- Taylor and Francis Group

Año: 2018;

Phytoremediation, the use of plants for the treatment of contaminated environments, has been increasingly considered as a sustainable approach for such purposes. Even though there have been numerous advances in the understanding of genetics/physiology/biochemistry of photoremediation allowing to increase plants? tolerance and metabolism to heavy metals, there are still some challenges that need to be addressed to become it in a widely used practice. Among them, the scale of work aiming to mimc the realism of polluted soils, the translation of phytoremediation research to the field, the monitoring of activities post phytotechnology application and the generation of valuable phyto-products. Despite these issues have not be completely addressed, requiring the efforts from different stakeholders involved in phytotechnologies, this chapter highlights the aspects that remain to be explored and also the encouraging advances developed in the last years to overcome these limitations.