Year-end Sale % OFF 
Abstract
Aquatic ecosystems are contaminated with heavy metals by natural and anthropogenic sources. Whilst some heavy metals are necessary for plants as micronutrients, others can be toxic to plants and humans even in trace concentrations. Among heavy metals, cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg) cause significant damage to aquatic ecosystems and can invariably affect human health. Rice, a staple diet of many nations, and other aquatic plants used as vegetables in many countries, can bioaccumulate heavy metals when they grow in contaminated aquatic environments. These metals can enter the human body through food chains, and the presence of heavy metals in food can lead to numerous human health consequences. Heavy metals in aquatic plants can affect plant physicochemical functions, growth, and crop yield. Various mitigation strategies are being continuously explored to avoid heavy metals entering aquatic ecosystems. Understanding the levels of heavy metals in rice and aquatic plants grown for food in contaminated aquatic environments is important. Further, it is imperative to adopt sustainable management approaches and mitigation mechanisms. Although narrowly focused reviews exist, this article provides novel information for improving our understanding about heavy metal accumulation in rice and aquatic plants, addressing the gaps in literature.
Highlights
The world’s ever-increasing population places great importance on the availability of sufficient food sources
This has a direct effect on aquatic plants which are present in polluted waterways due to the respective heavy metals being accumulated in the edible plant parts, such as rice grains and tubers of plants grown in aquatic environments
Previous literature has reported that bioaccumulation of heavy metals such as As, Cd, Co, Cr, Hg, Ni, and Pb in rice, along with some aquatic plants such as water spinach, Indian lotus, and watercress, have been detected as being beyond the permissible limit when compared with the allowable limits of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations [63,64] (Table 2)
Summary
The world’s ever-increasing population places great importance on the availability of sufficient food sources. Rice and an array of aquatic plants such as water chestnut (Trapa spp.), water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica), watercress (Nasturtium officinale), taro (Colocasia esculenta), and lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) are important sources of food, in many Asian countries as well as in West and Central African regions [5]. These plants accumulate heavy metals causing various issues to human health, the environment, and ecosystems [6,7]. We provide a glimpse of the research gap in this sphere that needs to be addressed by future research
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
