Biobeds, a Microbial-Based Remediation System for the Effective Treatment of Pesticide Residues in Agriculture

Abstract

Pesticides are chemical molecules employed to protect crops from pests in agriculture. The use of pesticides significantly enhances crop yields and helps to guarantee the quality of farm products; due to this, each year, millions of tons of pesticides are employed in crop fields worldwide. However, the extensive use of pesticides has been related to environmental pollution, mainly in soils and water bodies. The presence of pesticides in the environment constitutes a menace to biodiversity, soil fertility, food supply, and human health. Activities related to pesticide use in crops, such as the handling and pesticide dissolution before application, the filling and cleaning of aspersion equipment and machinery, accidental spills in crop fields, and the inadequate disposal of pesticide residues have been identified as important punctual pesticide pollution sources. Therefore, avoiding releasing pesticide residues into the soil and water is crucial to mitigating the environmental pollution associated with agricultural practices. Biobeds are biological systems that have been proposed as feasible, low-cost, and efficient alternatives for punctual pesticide pollution mitigation. Biobeds were first described as trenches packed with a mixture of 50% wheat straw, 25% soil, and 25% peat, covered with a grass layer; this composition is known as a “biomixture”. In biobeds, the biomixture absorbs the pesticide residues and supports the development of different microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, needed for pesticide degradation in the system. The effectiveness of a biobed systems lies in the high pesticide retention in the biomixture and the degradation potential of the microorganisms growing in the system. In this review, 24 studies published in the last five years (2018–2022) related to pesticide biodegradation in biobed systems are analyzed, emphasizing alternative biomixture composition usage, microbiological strategies, and the key physicochemical parameters for efficient pesticide degradation in the biobed systems. The availability of robust scientific evidence about the simple applicability, low cost, and effectiveness of biobeds for pesticide residue treatment is crucial to increasing the use of biobeds by farmers in different agricultural regions around the world.