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Effects of Microplastics on the Growth and Physiological Characteristics of Mulberry
Summary
Researchers exposed mulberry trees to varying concentrations of polylactic acid (PLA) microplastics in soil, finding that high concentrations (10% by weight) significantly reduced plant growth and damaged the photosynthetic system while triggering oxidative stress — a type of cellular damage from harmful reactive molecules. The findings show that even biodegradable plastics can harm economically important trees when they accumulate in soil at high levels.
To comprehensively understand the toxic effects and ecological risks of microplastics on major economic tree species, a pot experiment was conducted using polylactic acid (mPLA) microplastics as the test object to explore the effects of different concentrations (0.1%, 0.5%, 1%, 5%, 10%, w/w, mass fraction) of microplastics on the growth and physiological characteristics of mulberry trees.The study results showed that, compared with the control group, the biomass, total chlorophyll content, and net photosynthetic rate of mulberry trees in the mPLA treatment group were significantly reduced under high concentration (10%) treatment; the activities of SOD and CAT and the MDA content were significantly increased by 50.00%, 47.83%, and 60.87%, respectively, at a 10% concentration.The results indicate that the toxic effects of microplastic addition on mulberry trees are related to the type and concentration of microplastics.High concentrations of mPLA can damage the photosynthetic system of plants, affecting photosynthesis, causing oxidative damage and thus inhibiting the growth of mulberry plants.
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