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From soil disruption to biodegradation: A comprehensive review of microplastic effects and microbial breakdown mechanisms in terrestrial ecosystems
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This review pulls together existing research showing that tiny plastic particles in farm soil disrupt nutrients like phosphorus and harm the beneficial microbes plants need to grow, which can weaken crop health and soil fertility over time. Since these microplastics can also travel up the food chain into what we eat, this matters for human health, and the researchers point to promising fixes like using helpful soil microbes to break down plastics and restore soil balance.
Abstract Microplastics (MPs) are pervasive in the environment, posing a significant global environmental challenge. Agricultural ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to MP contamination due to the extensive use of plastics in farming practices. This issue is further aggravated by the application of organic fertilizers, sludge, and wastewater, which introduce additional MPs into the soil. These particles can alter the physiological and biochemical processes of plants, leading to impaired growth. In the current review, we explored the profound effects of MPs on soil health, P dynamics and microbial functionality, and highlighted microbiome-based strategies, including phosphate-solubilizing microbes and innovative remediation approaches, as promising solutions to mitigate MP impacts and restore soil health and agricultural sustainability. A comprehensive literature search was conducted in the Web of Science, Scopus, and ScienceDirect databases for peer-reviewed studies published up to November 2025. Eligible articles were systematically screened and synthesized using a thematic approach to assess the interactions among MPs, phosphorus dynamics, soil microbial communities, and microbial degradation in agricultural soils. As MPs migrate and disperse, they disrupt soil ecosystems and may ultimately threaten human health through their entry into the food chain, making the threat of MPs to agriculture an increasingly critical issue. MPs significantly impact phosphate dynamics by adsorbing phosphates onto their surfaces, reducing bioavailable phosphorus, and interfering with P-related enzymes such as acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, and phytase, which are critical for P mineralization and cycling. Furthermore, MPs disrupt soil microbial communities, affecting phosphate-solubilizing bacteria and fungi, compounding nutrient imbalances, and reducing soil fertility. These disruptions cascade through the agricultural ecosystem, undermining productivity and sustainability.
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Microplastics in Agroecosystems: Effects on Soil Microbiome, Nutrient Dynamics, and Fungal Interactions
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This review pulls together existing research showing that tiny plastic particles building up in farm soil can throw off the natural processes that keep soil healthy—disrupting helpful microbes, weakening nutrient cycles like nitrogen fixation, and harming beneficial fungi that plants rely on. Since these disruptions can hurt crop growth and soil fertility, and since microplastics may work their way into the food we eat, this matters for both the food supply and potential long-term human health effects that scientists are still working to understand.
Microplastics in terrestrial ecosystem: Exploring the menace to the soil-plant-microbe interactions
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This review summarizes existing research on how microplastics affect the complex relationships between soil, plants, and soil microbes. Microplastics alter soil structure, change the makeup of microbial communities, and disrupt beneficial partnerships between plants and helpful fungi and bacteria. These disruptions can reduce plant growth and nutrient cycling, which could ultimately affect crop yields and the quality of food produced on microplastic-contaminated farmland.
A Comprehensive Review on Changes in Rhizosphere Soil Mediated by Microplastics: Soil Property, Microbial Gene Expression and Crop Growth
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Tiny plastic particles from farm plastics, fertilizers, and polluted water are building up in agricultural soil, and this review pulls together existing research showing they can disrupt soil bacteria and fungi, harm soil creatures like worms, and interfere with how crops absorb nutrients and grow. While scientists haven't yet directly studied how this affects the safety or nutritional quality of the food we eat, these soil disruptions raise real questions about the long-term health of our food supply. More research is needed to understand exactly how microplastic pollution in farmland could eventually reach our dinner plates.
Impact of microplastics in agriculture
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This review paper pulls together existing research on how tiny plastic particles (microplastics) end up in farm soil — often through fertilizers, irrigation water, and plastic mulches used to grow crops. These plastics can harm soil health, disrupt nutrients, and affect the small creatures that keep soil fertile, which may ultimately impact the crops and livestock that end up on our plates. The findings matter because they suggest microplastics could be quietly working their way into our food supply, though more research is needed to understand exactly how this affects human health.
Microplastics as an Emerging Environmental Pollutant in Agricultural Soils: Effects on Ecosystems and Human Health
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This review examines how microplastics enter and move through agricultural soil ecosystems, affecting soil properties, nutrient cycling, and the organisms that live in and depend on healthy soil. Researchers found that microplastics can alter key biogeochemical processes and interact with co-existing pollutants like heavy metals and pesticides, potentially compounding their harmful effects. The study highlights the need for prevention and control strategies as microplastic contamination of farmland becomes an increasingly recognized environmental and potential human health concern.
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