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Ecological and physiological risks of micro- and nanoplastics in rice agroecosystems: Challenges and engineering-based mitigation approaches
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Researchers reviewed how micro- and nanoplastics harm rice — a staple crop feeding billions — by disrupting root growth, reducing photosynthesis, altering soil microbes, and making heavy metals more available to plants. The review proposes that ecological engineering strategies like microbial bioremediation and organic soil amendments could help protect agricultural land from plastic contamination.
Micro-and nanoplastics (MNPs) are emerging pollutants that threaten terrestrial agroecosystems, including rice (Oryza sativa L.), a key global staple crop.This review synthesizes recent findings on morphological, physiological, and molecular responses of rice to MNPs, and highlights ecological risks to soil fertility and food security.MNPs disrupt root development, reduce biomass accumulation, impair photosynthesis, and alter hormonal and molecular signaling, leading to yield losses under combined stress conditions.At the soil level, MNPs alter microbial communities, reduce nutrient cycling efficiency, and increase heavy metal bioavailability.Despite extensive laboratory studies, real-field evidence remains scarce, and mitigation strategies are underexplored.This paper proposes ecological engineering solutions, including organic amendments, microbial bioremediation, phytoremediation, and climate-smart soil management practices to reduce MNPs accumulation.We emphasize the need for standardized testing protocols, long-term field trials, and multi-omics integration to assess ecological risks.By linking plant physiological responses with engineering-based solutions, this review provides a framework for sustainable management of MNPs contamination in agricultural systems.
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Researchers reviewed how micro- and nanoplastics enter rice paddies through irrigation, mulch films, and atmospheric deposition, then harm soil health and rice plant growth by disrupting nutrient cycles and increasing oxidative stress. Their findings are especially significant because rice feeds more than half the world's population, yet research on plastic contamination in paddy systems remains very limited.
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This review examines how microplastic contamination in rice paddies affects soil health, microbial communities, and crop yields, finding that the particles disrupt nutrient cycling, impair root growth, and reduce grain production. Researchers evaluated a range of remediation strategies including phytoremediation, microbial degradation, algae-based approaches, and genetic engineering techniques. The study highlights the urgent need for integrated solutions to protect food security from growing plastic pollution in agricultural soils.
Micro/nanoplastics–metal(loid) co-exposure in rice: evidence, mechanisms, and food-safety implications
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This review summarizes research on how tiny plastic particles and toxic metals together affect rice grown in contaminated soil. It explains how plastics can change soil conditions and root growth, affecting how metals like cadmium, arsenic, mercury and lead build up in rice grains, and notes more field testing on mature rice is needed.
Microplastics meet invasive plants: Unraveling the ecological hazards to agroecosystems
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This study examined how microplastic contamination in soil combines with invasive plant species to affect rice crops. The combination of both stressors caused greater changes in rice metabolism and antioxidant responses than either stressor alone. These findings highlight how microplastic pollution in agricultural soil can interact with other environmental challenges to threaten food safety and crop health.
The effect of microplastic pollution on rice growth, paddy soil properties, and greenhouse gas emissions: A global meta-analysis
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This global meta-analysis of 40 studies found that microplastics reduce rice biomass by inducing oxidative stress and inhibiting photosynthesis, while depleting soil nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic carbon. Microplastics also stimulate nitrous oxide emissions from paddy soils, posing a dual threat to food security and climate through impaired rice production and increased greenhouse gas output.
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