ABSTRACT
The predicament of heavy metal contamination is progressively becoming ubiquitous. Heavy metals including chromium, cadmium, mercury, copper, and lead are perilous environmental contaminants, notably in those realms with major anthropogenic activities. Heavy metal accretion in the soil is a major issue for agricultural yield due to its detrimental impact on food safety and market potential and phytotoxicity induced in crops. The ascendancy of plants along with their metabolic actions influences the geological and biological re-distribution of heavy metals via air, soil, and water pollution. The usual aftermath of heavy metal toxicity is immoderate accretion of reactive oxygen species as well as methylglyoxal, together lead to lipid peroxidation, enzyme inactivation, nucleic acid damage, and protein oxidation in plants. The current chapter constitutes the array of heavy metals, their prevalence, and toxicity induced in plants. Heavy metal toxicity has eminent reverberation to plants and subsequently affecting the ecosystem, where the flora is an elemental component. Plants thriving in metal contaminated soil evince altered metabolism, reduced growth, and less biomass 51yield. The contemporary analysis for toxicity and resistance in metal stressed plants actuated by the metal-contaminated environment. This study emphasizes on impact of heavy metals on plant proliferation, production, and mode of toxicity within plants.
