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Micro- and Mesoplastics in Farmlands with Different Irrigation Water Sources
Summary
Researchers measured micro- and mesoplastic concentrations in Iranian farmlands irrigated with groundwater, surface water, and treated wastewater, finding that all three irrigation sources introduce substantial plastic contamination into soils, with fiber shapes dominating across all sites. These findings confirm that irrigation practices are a major pathway for microplastic accumulation in agricultural soils, raising concern about plastics entering food crops and reaching human consumers.
The amount and characteristics of micro- (100 nm to 5 mm) and mesoplastics (5 to 20 mm) in farmlands irrigated with three different water sources (groundwater, surface water, and treated wastewater effluent) in the south of Tehran were determined. Uncultivated fields were used as controls to provide background plastic concentrations. Soil samples were analyzed using ZnCl2 density extraction, H2O2 digestion, and Raman spectroscopy. In farmlands with surface water irrigation, the abundance of microplastics (326–2406 particles.kg–1) was significantly higher than that in farmlands with groundwater irrigation source (274–2053 particles.kg–1) and treated wastewater (114–800 particles.kg–1). The microplastic concentrations in the uncultivated control fields was 33–52 particles.kg–1. Mesoplastics were found with abundances of 5 to 134, 7 to 260 and 11 to 660 particles.kg–1 in soil samples for irrigation with treated wastewater, surface water and groundwater, respectively, and 2 to 11 particles.kg–1 were found in the uncultivated control fields. These fibers were found to be the most abundant plastic form in all three farmlands, followed by fragments and films. We found that irrigation can be a considerable source of micro- and mesoplastic in soil, while compost fertilizing practices may affect plastic pollution. The results shed light on the extent of micro- mesoplastic pollution in agricultural fields, highlighting the need for further investigation into the factors that influence soil plastic pollution.