Pesticides aim to eradicate insects and other pests that threaten and damage crop yield. For ages, many pesticides have been employed to protect crops. Although pesticides aid various crops, they have damaging consequences on the ecosystem. Currently, India stands and holds the twelfth position globally in terms of pesticide usage and is the foremost producer of pesticides in Asia. Since most Indians work in agriculture, they are exposed to the pesticides employed in this industry. India, on average, consumed around 51,000MT of chemical pesticides in the past thirty years, with sulphur, mancozeb, and chlorpyrifos being widely consumed in the last five years. Overuse of pesticides has the potential to destroy biodiversity. Despite being exposed to physical, chemical, and biological degradation processes, pesticide residues continue in the ecosystem due to their high stability and water solubility. We aimed to focus on the microbial degradation approach frequently employed for pesticide breakdown due to its higher efficiency and lower cost, apart from the conventional physical and chemical degradation techniques. The development of nano-bioremediation has the potential to improve the environment by removing pollutants and using clean up techniques. Combining traditional bioremediation with nano-biotechnological methods or using direct nano-remediation methods may be possible. Additionally, current developments related to synthesis, utilization of immobilization, and nanoencapsulation techniques are discussed.
Rayjada et al. (Wed,) studied this question.