Potential of Duckweed Holobionts for Sustainable Water Purification and Biomass Resource Recovery

Abstract

Duckweed holoboionts which consist of plant body and sympatric rhizospheric microorganisms have attracted attention as both of polluted water purifier and useful bioresource producer with easy maintenance and low energy consumption. The purification activities of duckweed system can be summarized into nutrient uptake by plants and microbial degradation in the rhizosphere. Previous research data indicate applicability of various duckweed holobionts to water treatment against wide variety of organic pollutants and inorganic nutrients. And more, duckweed plants show high biomass productivity and high protein/starch contents easily used for methane or ethanol fermentation. Some challenging studies on managing the contaminants degrading or plant growth promoting microorganisms in the duckweed holobionts showed possible enhancement of water treatment efficiency and biomass production. These facts clearly underline the potential of duckweed holobionts in the sustainable environmental treatment techniques and expected progress in the research and development for the practical use in the future.