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Polyethylene Microplastic-Induced Changes in Soil Properties Mediate Nutrient Accumulation and Growth of Amaranthus tricolor L.
Summary
Scientists found that microplastic pollution in soil can stunt the growth of Amaranth (a leafy green vegetable), reduce its nutrient content, and harm beneficial soil bacteria — even at fairly low plastic concentrations. This matters because as plastic waste keeps building up in farmland, it could quietly shrink harvests and lower the nutritional quality of the vegetables we eat, making microplastic pollution a food security issue, not just an environmental one.
The impact of microplastic pollution on soil functions and the ecological toxicity to crops is a hotspot in agronomy and environmental science. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted to examine the effects of polyethylene microplastics (PE-MPs) at concentrations of 0.25%, 0.5%, 2.5%, and 5% on the growth, physiological indicators, soil physical and chemical properties, and soil bacterial community diversity of Amaranthus tricolor L. The results showed that adding PE-MPs inhibited the growth of A. tricolor L. stems and leaves, and as the dosage increased, the aboveground fresh weight decreased by 13.5% to 60.7%. At the same time, the chlorophyll content in A. tricolor L. leaves decreased, whereas the malondialdehyde (MDA) content increased by up to 11.8%. When the added dosage of PE-MPs was ≥0.5%, soil porosity and available phosphorus (AP) content significantly decreased, resulting in a significant reduction of 22.1% to 31.3% in the phosphorus content of the aboveground parts of A. tricolor L. compared with controls (CK). High-throughput sequencing results indicated that adding PE-MPs could reduce the Shannon index of the soil bacterial community and increase the Simpson index, suggesting a decrease in diversity. The addition of PE-MPs also altered the structure of the soil bacterial community, increasing the relative abundance of the Acidobacteriota, while the abundance of the Planctomycetota significantly decreased. This study provides a numerical and theoretical basis for evaluating the impact of microplastics on vegetable production and soil ecological environment effects.