Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal effects on heavy metal concentrations and nutrients in different host plant species

Due to human activities most arable land is contaminated with heavy metals. This is becoming a great threat for sustainable and safe agriculture. In many crops heavy metal uptake results in a decrease of productivity. Elevated metal concentration in edible parts of crops could also cause serious problems in human health. Plants have evolved many strategies to avoid the uptake of high levels of heavy metals. Among these is the association with soil borne AM fungi. The AM fungal association is a strategy applied by almost 80% of terrestrial to enhance acquisition of less available nutrient elements from the soil. Beside their role in increasing nutrient availability, mycorrhizal fungi have been recognised to reduce heavy metal uptake of host plants. The mechanisms involved in this process are not well understood. The results of this study showed that the application of mycorrhiza technology could be important for crop productivity, not only in terms of nutrient uptake acquisition but also for remediation of metal contaminated soils in order to provide sustainable and safe crop production.