Biosurfactants for Sustainable Soil Management

Degradation of soil resources is a serious global environmental issue and it may be made worse by climate change. It is important that soils should be handled with a careful consideration for sustainable agricultural production using environmental friendly techniques. Biosurfactants can help in remediation of contaminated soils by their specialized characteristics and play facilitating role in enhancing the bioavailability of contaminants to microorganisms for subsequent biodegradation. The use of the biosurfactants and also biosurfactants producing microorganisms to improve soil health and to bioremediate polluted soils is an emerging approach. The present talk will primarily focused on the use of biosurfactants produced by microorganisms and their application to restore soil health and improve agricultural production in a sustainable way. As a perspective of this talk, it is proposed that future studies should explain how and when these approaches can be feasible in terms of production costs and availability of these compounds.