Soil Pollution and Remediation: Recent Developments and Future Perspectives

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, due to intensifying agricultural, industrial, and commercial development, alarming amounts of toxic pollutants have been accumulating in agricultural soils. Consequently, soil has become a sink for various kinds of pollutants, including inorganic, organic, and biological pollutants, such as pesticides, fertilizers, heavy metals, and pharmaceuticals. Soil pollution has been identified as a global environmental issue, posing potential risks to soil ecosystems, natural water resources, food security, and human health. Therefore, emerging soil remediation technologies are required in order to make polluted soils safer for humans and other organisms.

This Special Issue focuses on soil pollution with both traditional and emerging contaminants as well as novel and green remediation technologies to maintain environmental quality and human health. The topics proposed for this Special Issue include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Occurrence, fate, and transformation of contaminants in soil;
• Soil pollutant monitoring, modelling, and risk assessment.;
• Risks, toxicity, and ecological effects of soil contaminants;
• Interactions between soil components and pollutants and their impacts on soil ecosystems;
• Novel environmentally friendly soil remediation techniques and approaches;.
• Impacts of soil contaminants on beneficial soil microorganisms and the release of enzyme secretions.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. George Fouad Antonious
Guest Editor

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• soil pollution
• inorganic, organic and biological pollutants
• soil remediation
• phytoremediation

Title: Duality of Biochar and Organic Manure Co-composting on Soil Enzymes Activity and the Remediation Process
Authors: George F. Antonious
Affiliation: College of Agriculture, Community, and the Sciences, Kentucky State University, Frankfort, KY 40601, USA
Abstract: Technological procedures for the immobilization of agrochemical pollutants and activation of soil enzymes are still lacking due to the ever-increasing number of new agrochemicals produced by the industry to enhance agricultural production systems. The use of animal manure as organic fertilizers in plant production is an affordable way to alleviate cost production of inorganic fertilizers and improve crop yield and quality at an affordable cost to limited-resource farmers. Microorganisms in animal manure secrete a variety of extracellular hydrolyzing enzymes capable of breaking down organic matter in animal manure and releasing C-, N-, and P for plant uptake. Recently, the application of biochar (a product of biomass pyrolysis) has been suggested for binding agricultural pollutants and promoting crop yield. In this chapter, a promising strategy for combining biochar and animal manure application in agricultural production systems is proposed in a trial to investigate the impact of this mixed formulation on the mobility of pesticides, and the activity of three enzymes that control the N, C, and P soil cycles. Only a few studies have addressed the impact of biochar on soil enzyme activity and pesticide remediation. This chapter attempts to fill the gaps in the technology and mechanisms of remediation of pesticides and soil enzyme activity using organic amendments and biobeds (biofilters) and share original research conducted at Kentucky State University on the various aspects of remediation technology.