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Phytoremediation using aromatic plants: a sustainable approach for remediation of heavy metals polluted sites.

C of soil and water bodies with toxic heavy metals has often resulted from human activities. Conventional technologies for treatment of heavy metals polluted soil require a huge capital cost. Use of aromatic plants rather than non aromatic edible crops for the treatment of heavy metals polluted land is a sustainable, aesthetic and environmental friendly technique. Here we discuss the benefits of using aromatic plants and risks related to non aromatic edible crops as suitable phytoremediation candidate. Heavy metals pollution of soil and water due to human induced activities poses a major threat to environmental sustainability. A significant proportion of the total geographical area has been and being polluted by heavy metals throughout the world. Heavy metals are the natural component of earth crust that cannot be degraded and destroyed but accumulate through food chain and cause potential human health risk and ecological disturbances. Among all the available technologies for the removal of heavy metals from polluted sites, phytoremediation is considered as an effective, low cost, environmental friendly and preferred cleanup option for contaminated areas. Plants through several natural, biophysical and biochemical processes, such as adsorption, transport and translocation, hyperaccumulation or transformation and mineralization, can remediate pollutants. Many plant species are able to grow under heavy metals polluted environments. These plants must have specific adaptations to survive there; they must be metallophytes, pseudometallophytes, or hyperaccumulators. Despite the fact of human health risk, several researchers investigated and recommended many edible crops for phytoremediation purposes. Recently, a Scopus (www.scopus. com) based survey of the literature for the period 1995−2009 was carried out by Vamerali et al. (2010) in order to take a census of crop species involved in phytoremediation research of heavy metals throughout the world. Authors reported that B. juncea (L.) an edible oil producing crop was the most cited (148 citations) among other eight studied crops such as Helianthus annuus (57 citations), B. napus, and Zea mays (both 39 citations). It clearly shows that a little concern is given to aromatic plants for the phytoremediation. But the problem of heavy metal contamination remains the same if we use edible crops for phytoremediation. These crops are being consumed by human or animals in one or the other forms. Ecologically, use of edible crops for phytoremediation is not viable because the heavy metals enter into food chain either consumption by human or animals. This clearly indicates that scientific community lacking a safe technology, in which health risk is negligible for the phytoremediation of heavy metal polluted sites. Aromatic plants are grown for the production of essential oils and food processing. The essential oil of aromatic plants is being used in soaps, detergents, insect repellents, cosmetic, perfumes, and food processing industries. These plants are nonedible and are not being consumed directly by humans or animal like cereals, pulses, vegetables. The essential oil from aromatic plants is free from the risk of heavy metals accumulation from plant biomass. The heavy metals do not enter the food chain through phytoremediation by aromatic plants. The wild animals do not damage/eat the aromatic crops due to its essence. In fact, aromatic plant resources are very abundant, and they can be used on large scale. These plants offer a novel option for their use in phytoremedation of heavy metal contaminated sites. Aromatic plants like vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides), palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii), lemon grass (Cymbopogon f lexuosus), citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus), geranium mint (Mentha sp.), tulsi (Ocimum basilicum) are ecologically feasible and viable. Some aromatic grasses like, lemon grass, palmarosa, citronella, vetiver, etc. are stress tolerant and perennial in nature. The herb can be collected in subsequent years for hydro distillation of essential oil. These crops have high valued with low input. Therefore, we propose here a safe, economically feasible and eco-friendly approach for phytoremediation using nonedible