Mycoremediation of pesticide-contaminated soil: A review

Pesticide contamination in soil presents significant environmental and health risks due to toxic residues. Traditional physical and chemical remediation methods are often expensive, ineffective at low concentrations, and generate toxic by-products. Mycoremediation, utilizing fungi for bioremediation, provides a cost-effective, eco-friendly, and efficient solution. This review explores fungi for remediating pesticide and herbicide pollutants. Indigenous fungi, especially Aspergillus and Penicillium species, show substantial potential in bioremediating xenobiotics like organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides due to their versatile enzymatic systems. These fungi degrade pesticides into less toxic metabolites or entirely mineralize them within days, using the compounds for carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus. Fungi possess specific gene clusters for pesticide utilization, making them valuable for managing contamination from pesticides such as glyphosate. Mycoremediation offers a promising alternative, as fungi can degrade and detoxify pesticides through biochemical mechanisms like oxidation and reduction reactions. Using indigenous fungi in bioremediation reduces pesticide toxicity, supports sustainable agriculture, maintains soil fertility, and prevents biomagnification. This review examines recent studies on fungi in degrading pesticide-contaminated land and provides scientific evidence supporting mycoremediation as a solution for soil contamination.