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Mechanistic insights into how soil-borne contaminants impair plant physiology and agricultural output
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This review paper pulls together existing research showing how pollutants like microplastics, heavy metals, and overused pesticides are damaging soil health, poisoning the microbes that keep soil fertile, and leaving harmful residues in our crops. This matters because it means the food supply chain is being squeezed from multiple angles, lower harvests, higher farming costs, and contaminated produce that can be rejected for sale, while these same soil pollutants may end up on our plates and in our environment long-term.
Food security depends on agriculture, but excessive use of synthetic chemicals, such as pesticides and fertilizers, has resulted in the loss of soil nutrients and the build-up of new pollutants including microplastics and heavy metals. Reduced crop production and quality result from these pollutants’ disruption of soil microbiota, degradation of soil health, and contribution to residue accumulation. Furthermore, excessive use of agrochemicals has increased production costs, necessitated more chemical inputs, and hastened the emergence of resistant insect populations. These issues are made worse by global climate change, which modifies soil conditions and increases pest pressure, ultimately lowering agricultural output and costing farmers money. Additionally, the presence of contaminant residues in agricultural produce frequently results in export rejection, which affects trade and the livelihoods of farmers. This review looks at how new toxins affect agriculture, emphasizing how they contribute to decreased production, environmental deterioration, and unstable economies.
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Understanding the effects of Microplastics and persistent organic pollutants' on soil ecosystem services supply
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This research review shows that tiny plastic particles (microplastics) and long-lasting chemical pollutants are harming soil in ways that threaten human wellbeing. These pollutants damage soil's ability to grow healthy food, prevent floods, filter water, and support the plants we depend on for medicine and other resources. When soil gets polluted, it creates a chain reaction that reduces food production and makes our environment less able to protect us from natural disasters.
Micro and nanoplastic pollution in agricultural soils: effects on rhizosphere processes and phytotoxicity
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Tiny plastic particles are building up in farm soil, even more than in the ocean, and this review of existing research shows they can disrupt the delicate root zone where plants absorb nutrients and interact with helpful microbes. This disruption can stunt plant growth and potentially affect crop quality, meaning the food we eat could be another route by which plastic pollution reaches our bodies. More research is still needed to fully understand how these plastics harm plants, but the findings signal that fixing plastic waste management in farming is an urgent priority.
Microplastics in the rhizosphere: unraveling plant–microbe–soil interactions and consequences for crop resilience
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Tiny plastic bits from mulch, wastewater, and compost are building up in farm soil, and this review of existing research shows they can stunt plant growth, block nutrient uptake, and throw off the balance of helpful vs. harmful soil microbes that crops depend on. This matters because unhealthy soil means less resilient, potentially lower-quality crops — and since these same microplastics are already showing up in our food and water, understanding their effects on farmland is a key piece of the bigger puzzle about plastic's impact on what ends up on our plates.
Invisible threats in soil: Microplastic pollutionand its effects on soil health and plant growth
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This review summarizes current knowledge about microplastic contamination in agricultural soil, covering where the plastics come from, how they move through soil, and what they do to soil health and plant growth. Microplastics can alter soil structure, disrupt microbial communities, and interfere with nutrient cycles that plants need to grow. The findings raise concerns that widespread microplastic pollution in farmland could quietly reduce crop quality and productivity, ultimately affecting the food supply.
Micro (nano) plastic pollution: The ecological influence on soil-plant system and human health.
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This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics affect soil health, plant growth, and food quality, finding that these particles accumulate in plant root systems and can reduce crop yields and alter nutritional content. Since contaminated soil and water are increasingly delivering microplastics to food crops, these findings are directly relevant to agricultural food safety.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.