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The long-term effects of microplastics on soil organomineral complexes and bacterial communities from controlled-release fertilizer residual coating
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After a 10-year field experiment with controlled-release fertilizer application in China, residual plastic coating microplastics were found in soil at levels that altered soil organomineral complexes and bacterial community structure, raising sustainability concerns about this widely used agricultural technology.
Controlled-release fertilizer (CRF) was applied widely in China as an efficient utilization strategy for improving grain yield and reducing the nitrogen contamination. However, it was indeterminate to know the impacts of inevitably imported plastic into the soil on sustainable development. After ten-year fixed-site experiment, the visible residual coating microplastics were separated from the soil to measure their changes, then the long-term effects of CRF application (theoretical microplastic content 0.018-0.151 g kg soil) on soil architecture and bacterial communities were evaluated. Based on soil organomineral complexes (OMC) distribution experiments and soil 16S rRNA sequence analysis, residual coating microplastics had no significant impact on soil architecture and limited effects on soil bacteria, but became the specific microbial habitat. The nitrogen rate and nitrogen release mode affected sand- and silt-grade OMC, and nitrogen rate impacted soil bacteria communities. The residual coating, small inert particles, is safe for soil OMC and bacterial communities in agricultural soil. Due to the effectiveness of CRF on reducing environmental pollution, CRF is considered as a favorable measure to the sustainable agricultural development in Shandong Province, China.
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