Investigation of microplastic pollution on paddy fields in Xiangtan City, Southern China

Microplastics (MPs) have become a hot issue of environmental pollution. However, insufficient evidence exists regarding the distributions and fates of MPs in terrestrial environment, especially in farmlands. The distributions of MPs in paddy fields were investigated in Xiangtan City, a typical rice production area in China. The abundance of MPs in paddy seedling raising fields was 3805 ± 511 n·kg, which increased by approximately 9 times than that in common paddy fields. Transparent films became the dominant forms due to the huge usage of mulching films, corresponding to that the proportion of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) increased to 17% there. Moreover, an industrial plant nearby also contributed considerably to the MP pollution; the proportion of PVC (33%) in the paddy fields nearby increased to approximately 4 times of common paddy fields, while polyvinyl alcohol (PVA; 13%) used as an important chemical raw material to synthesis in various applications was uniquely detected there. These results highlight the input of MPs from agricultural and industrial activities in farmlands. Their contributions to the MP pollution in farmlands should be continuously investigated.