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Effects of Polyethylene and Heavy Metal Cadmium on the Growth and Development of Brassica chinensis var. chinensis
Summary
Pot experiments with Chinese cabbage showed that both cadmium and polyethylene microplastics reduced biomass, chlorophyll content, and root development, while the combination of the two stressors resulted in polyethylene partially mitigating cadmium's effects on growth — possibly by reducing cadmium bioavailability in soil. These results reveal complex interactions between microplastics and heavy metals in agricultural soils, with implications for predicting contamination effects on food crop safety.
With the large-scale use of plastic products in daily life and the progress of industrial production, it has had a serious impact on the soil environment. To identify the effect of heavy metal and microplastics on the development of plants, we examined the changes of physiological and biochemical indexes of Brassica chinensis var. chinensis under different concentrations of heavy metal cadmium and polyethylene stress with a pot experiment. We set three cadmium concentration gradients—0, 10, 20 mg/kg and three polyethylene concentration gradients—0, 18, 36 g/kg in the experiment. The results showed that both cadmium concentration and polyethylene concentration have significant effects on chlorophyll content, enzyme activity, and root development (except for the effect of polyethylene concentration on root volume, superoxide anion free radical content, and peroxidase activity), and the addition of polyethylene alleviated the stress effect of cadmium on biomass, root system, and chlorophyll content. The stress of cadmium and polyethylene reduced the leaf and root biomass of B. chinensis var. chinensis and inhibited the activities of enzymes related to chlorophyll synthesis, while the content of superoxide anion free radicals in the leaves increased, causing the enhancement of catalase activity. In addition, the content of photosynthetic pigments decreased, suggesting that the capture of light energy by B. chinensis var. chinensis will be reduced. These findings provide a new insight into the toxic effects of microplastics and heavy metals on B. chinensis var. chinensis, and further apply to the ecological risk assessment of microplastics and heavy metals on higher plants.