Abstract
Potentially toxic element (PTE) pollution is a major abiotic stress, which reduces plant growth and affects food quality by entering the food chain, and ultimately poses hazards to human health. Currently, the use of slag in PTE-contaminated soils has been reported to reduce PTEs and toxicity in plants. This review highlights the role of slag used as a fertilizer for better crop production and sustainable agricultural development. The application of slag increased the growth, yield, and quality of crops under PTE toxicity. The mechanisms followed by slag are the immobilization of PTEs in the soil, enhancement of soil pH, changes in the redox state of PTEs, and positive changes in soil physicochemical and biological properties under PTE toxicity. Nevertheless, these processes are influenced by the plant species, growth conditions, imposition length of stress, and type of slag used. The current review provides an insight into improving plant tolerance to PTE toxicity by slag-based fertilizer application and highlights the theoretical basis for applying slag in PTE-contaminated environments worldwide.
Highlights
With the rapid increase in the world population, to other industries, steel industries are more concerned about the safe and eco-friendly recycling of their byproducts
It has been reviewed that the application of slag fertilizers could be helpful in the significant removal of Potentially toxic element (PTE) ions from plants and soils
Removal by slag include: (a) the immobilization of PTEs by sorption and increase in soil pH; (b) changing the fraction of PTEs in the soil; (c) changing soil physicochemical and biological properties; (d) the alteration of plant antioxidant enzymes. These mechanisms can be different for different plants, genotypes of plants, plant growth conditions, imposition time of stress, and types of slag fertilizers used
Summary
With the rapid increase in the world population, to other industries, steel industries are more concerned about the safe and eco-friendly recycling of their byproducts. Sustainability 2021, 13, 5255 increased volume of byproducts (slag) produced from iron/steel production has drawn attention to the need for its more effective recycling. Steel slag contains a variety of trace elements on its surface, which makes it an excellent fertilizer for better plant growth. A variety of studies have reported that there is a great commitment from slag-based fertilizer modification in agriculture to increase crop productivity [26,27], minimize soil acidification [28], and alleviate greenhouse gas (GHG). Das et al [1] reported that slag utilization in the PTE-contaminated soil improves crop production by affecting soil pH and greenhouse gas emissions. This review discussed the role of slag on PTEs used as a substitute for fertilizers for better crop growth in PTE-polluted soils
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