Anupriya Kumari and Panchanand Mishra
Abstract
Saccharum species encompassing cultivated sugarcane (S. officinarum and hybrids) and wild congeners such as S. spontaneum and S. munja offer an unusually versatile toolkit for sustainable land management. Their high biomass productivity, stress tolerance, and dense, fibrous root systems enable multiple ecosystem functions like Phytoremediation of heavy metals and metalloids and ash-contaminated substrates via Phytoextraction and phytostabilization, bioenergy and bio-based co-product generation from cane, straw, and bagasse; and rapid ground cover, soil aggregation, and carbon accrual that accelerate ecological restoration on degraded lands. This review synthesizes mechanistic understanding and field evidence on the Phytoremediation potential of Saccharum spp., evaluates ecological pathways to valorize harvested biomass (second-generation bioethanol, biogas, biohydrogen, biochar), and articulates design principles for integrating Saccharum-based interventions into mine spoils, fly-ash basins, industrial wastelands, and salinity- or acidity-affected soils.