Battery waste is growing annually with the increased consumption of portable and rechargeable devices. Moreover, the incorrect handling and disposal of these wastes can have extremely detrimental impacts on safety and human and environmental health. Global lithium production is currently 82,000 tons year⁻¹, a 200% increase since 2000. In 2016, 3300 tons of lithium-ion batteries waste were generated, but only 2% of this was collected and exported for offshore recycling in the two years prior. Moreover, the remaining 98% of those waste batteries are disposed of to landfill, which has the potential to critically and irreversibly damage our environment and directly/indirectly enter into food chain through plants.

Consequently, it is often challenging to assess the lithium impact on plants. In above mentioned context, it is necessary to evaluate the toxicology of lithium for a comprehensive assessment of hazards on agroecosystems. So, we conducted a meta-analysis study to investigates the importance of lithium exposure by its sources, medium and concentration based lithium impact on plants growth parameters. Through this comprehensive research analysis, we also highlighted research gaps, proposed methods, recommendations and perspectives for future research, and provide an updated baseline for scientists working in this field. Current study provides the way forward for additional research work to mitigate the lithium pollution and to accurately assess the fate of lithium in agricultural environments. The complete details are available in “Response of agricultural plants to Lithium pollution: Trends, Meta-analysis, and Perspectives”

Reference

Shakoor, N., Adeel, M., Azeem, I., Ahmad, M.A., Zain, M., Abbas, A., Zhou, P., Li, Y., Ming, X. and Yukui, R., 2022. Responses of Agricultural plants to Lithium pollution: Trends, Meta-Analysis, and Perspectives. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.07.491047

Noman Shakoor, is a Ph.D. scholar at the China Agricultural University Beijing, made efforts to reveals the of influence of lithium on plant growth and development. Given this, practical efforts have been made to highlight the threshold levels and underlying mechanism the toxicity of Li in soil-plant system. Many leading young scholars, including Dr. M. Adeel, distinguished associate professor were involved in this project, proposed the solution to overcome the harmful impact of Li on agricultural plants.

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