Cucurbit plants for remediation of soils polluted with persistent and emerging organic pollutants: State of the art, future perspectives and challenges

Abstract

Several members of the cucurbit family (Cucurbitaceae) have a great potential to take up highly hydrophobic compounds, such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), from environmental matrices, and translocate them to the aboveground parts of the plants. Moreover, recent research showed that they can effectively enhance the removal of emerging organic pollutants (EOPs) from the environment. Several studies provided evidence that plant-associated microorganisms and root exudates (including plant secondary metabolites, PSMs) can enhance the effective removal of POPs and EOPs from environmental matrices (i.e. soil, sediments, water reservoirs) by cucurbits. Hence, the main aims of this chapter are: (i) to gather information about processes underlying an exceptional ability of cucurbits to accumulate hydrophobic compounds; (ii) to combine the most pronounced and recent data on the removal of POPs and EOPs using cucurbits; and (iii) to point out opportunities and challenges for the use of cucurbits as phytoremediators of polluted environments.