Reducing environmental contaminants

Environmental pollution is a pressing issue, and one that greatly affects the agricultural industry.

We’ve previously written about this, focusing on problems associated with the overuse of fertilisers and the alarming degradation of soil health. Practical and effective solutions to remedy the destruction of the environment and depleting necessary natural resources need to be prioritised. One technique that is receiving particular attention is phytoremediation.

What is phytoremediation?

Phytoremediation is a biological based technique that works with the ability of plants to decontaminate the environment, including the air, soil and water. Currently it is an emerging technology, but one that is already displaying the following benefits:

eco-friendly
effective
relatively cheap
non-invasive
can be used to remove multiple pollutants at once
reduces soil erosion
contributes to carbon sequestering

There are multiple techniques for phytoremediation to work.

One is phytoextraction: the ability of some plants to absorb a contaminant in the root and bring it into plant tissues that are above ground and therefore out of the soil.

Another example is phytostabilisation, during which plants can immobilise the contaminant in the rhizosphere, and therefore reduce its bioavailability in the soil. This prevents it from getting into other organisms through water contamination or through consumption.

How can Maxstim biostimulant formulations help?

Biostimulants can make phytoremediation even more effective.

Maxstim has generated a large amount of significant data demonstrating that there are a number of beneficial effects of incorporating complex biostimulants into a growing regime, such as:

All of these positive outcomes are strengthening the plant, reducing the negative effect that pollutants will have on it, and enhancing phytoremediation performance.

Phytoremediation technology can be a slow and sometimes ineffective way to tackle pollution on such a large scale. However, when used in conjunction with Maxstim complex biostimulants, this could significantly bolster the outcomes and enhance a plant’s ability to remove contaminants from the environment.