ENVIRONMENTAL FATE AND DEGRADATION KINETICS OF HERBICIDES IN SOIL–WATER SYSTEMS: GENOMIC INSIGHTS INTO MICROBIAL BIODEGRADATION

Abstract

Herbicides are extensively applied in modern agriculture to improve crop productivity and control weed infestations. However, their widespread use has resulted in increasing contamination of soil–water systems, posing significant environmental and ecological concerns. The persistence of herbicide residues can adversely affect non-target organisms, soil health, water quality, and ecosystem stability, necessitating a comprehensive understanding of their environmental fate and degradation mechanisms. This review aims to evaluate the environmental fate of herbicides in soil–water systems, examine degradation kinetics and influencing factors, and summarize recent genomic insights into microbial biodegradation and their implications for sustainable remediation.A comprehensive review of recent literature was conducted focusing on herbicide transport processes, degradation pathways, kinetic models, microbial degradation mechanisms, genomics, multi-omics technologies, and genomics-guided bioremediation strategies. Herbicide fate is controlled by adsorption, desorption, leaching, runoff, and degradation processes. Both abiotic and biotic mechanisms contribute to herbicide transformation, while degradation kinetics are commonly described using first-order, pseudo-first-order, and Michaelis–Menten models. Advances in genomics, metagenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics have facilitated the identification of degradative microorganisms, functional genes, enzymes, and metabolic pathways. Emerging bioremediation approaches, including bioaugmentation, biostimulation, engineered microbial consortia, and synthetic biology-based interventions, have demonstrated significant potential for enhancing herbicide removal. Integrating degradation kinetics with genomics and multi-omics technologies offers new opportunities for improving herbicide risk assessment, remediation efficiency, and sustainable agricultural management while reducing environmental contamination.