ABSTRACT
Arsenic soil pollution is becoming one of the major environmental threats in India. Inorganic arsenate (V) and arsenite (III) are the most toxic, predominant, and phyto-available forms of As within the soil matrix. High As concentration is reported in groundwater more than surface water because of its interaction with aquifers bearing As minerals. This arsenic-contaminated groundwater is the major source of irrigating agricultural fields, therefore, it contaminates agricultural soils with As. More than 25 countries worldwide are severely affected by arsenic toxicity. Approximately 70 million people in India and Bangladesh alone are at risk of diseases caused by chronic arsenic poisoning. These include cancers, hyperkeratosis, diabetes mellitus, melanosis, restrictive lung disease, hypertension, blackfoot disease, gangrene, and heart disease. Due to the presence of various limitations of physicochemical methods of As treatment, current research on As problems has now shifted more toward the biological approach. Soil microbial communities provide us with significant methods of sustainable agriculture farming practices with reduced contamination in food chain. Therefore, the chapter focuses on the mycoremediation approach, which is found to be effective in treating As pollution from soils. We discuss As detoxification mechanisms, with special reference to biosorption, bioaccumulation, and biovolatilization by filamentous fungi and mycorrhiza. Moreover, we also emphasize future methods that may help in reducing As translocation from root to shoot to grain.
