The influence of co-cropping upon the rhizosphere microbiomecommunity of three crops in contaminated soil

Human industrial activities have left millions of hectares of land around the world polluted with trace element metals and persistent organic pollutants. Although contaminated sites are damaging to the environment and can be dangerous to human health, high economic costs often discourage soil remediation efforts. Phytoremediation, the use of tolerant plants to clean soils, is a potential green technology solution but can be challenging due to the diversity of anthropogenic contaminants. A co-cropping strategy is one way to take advantage of distinct phytoremediation capabilities of different crops, as well as provide a robust tolerance to diverse soil challenges.