Metal toxicity management with microbial inoculants: a sustainable strategy

Contamination of the basic components of environment is an issue of high concern in the present times. Different sources which contribute to the addition of these toxic elements to air, water, and soil are both natural as well as anthropogenic. Their application in daily use can be minimized though but cannot be completely neglected. However, the ecosystem being polluted as a result of this must be scavenged by adopting eco-friendly and long-lasting measures. Among the various biological methods explored for heavy metal detoxification, the use of various microbes including fungi, algae, and bacteria is a sustainable and effective method. Various fungi, that is, arbuscular mycorrhizal, endophytic, mycorrhizal, etc., are found to be helpful in reciprocation of deleterious effects of heavy metals in plants for which they are naturally or artificially inoculated in different plant parts. This chapter mainly focuses on the causes of heavy metal pollution and their deteriorating effects on plants along with the role of different kinds of microbial inoculants in the alleviation of heavy metal toxicity in various crop plants.