Rhizobacteria and their metabolites as a promising green approach for the treatment of pesticide contaminated agricultural soils

Abstract

Pesticides are employed to control and manage pest populations at tolerable levels. Pesticides are classified especially according to their chemical structure, toxicity, environmental persistence and target organisms. The massive use of these pollutants in addition to their toxic potential seriously threatens ecosystems and humans. For this reason, the development of green bioremediation processes is necessary. The ability of several microorganisms to bioremediate pesticides is mainly based on their biodegradation activity. Though bacteria have been proved to be efficient biodegraders and bioremediators, some fungi and archae could biodegrade recalcitrant pesticides too. The bioremediation of pesticide-contaminated agricultural sites may be optimized by considering the prevalent environmental conditions, the microorganisms that solubilize and degrade the pesticides most effectively, the variables that affect the biodegradation rate and the chemical structure of pesticides. This chapter explores the importance of pesticides as persistent organic pollutants in agricultural soils, particularly in the plants rhizospheric area and further illustrates the recent advances in pesticide microbial bioremediation, with emphasis on the metabolic potential of pseudomonads as a representative model of pesticide-degrading microorganisms.