We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Effects of microplastics and excessive nitrogen pollution on oat growth and soil nitrogen cycling
AI summary Read the abstract
Using pot experiments, researchers tested how polypropylene microplastics affect oat growth and soil nitrogen cycling under conditions of excessive nitrogen fertilization. MPs reduced nitrogen use efficiency and disrupted soil enzyme activities involved in N cycling, compounding the environmental costs of nitrogen overapplication in agricultural soils.
Both excessive nitrogen (N) and microplastic (MPs) pollution pose global change challenges to ecosystems and human health. The effects of MPs coexisting with excessive N on plant growth and N cycling are still largely unknown. This study employed a pot experiment to assess how polypropylene (PP) MPs influence oat (Avena sativa L.) growth and soil N cycling under conditions of excessive N fertilization. In the treatments of excessive N treatment, 2 % PP MPs significantly increased underground biomass (54.5 %). N stable isotope results showed that 2 % PP MPs treatment significantly reduced the percentage of N from fertilizer in oat by 10.4 %. Compared to without N treatment, excessive N treatment reduces the Shannon index of the rhizosphere soil bacterial community. Only at the 0.5 % PP MPs level, excessive N treatment significantly reduced the diversity of bacterial communities in the bulk soil compared to the without N treatment. The Shannon index of fungal community was not affected by N treatment and MPs. Microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) and pH were significant related to sensitive species in microbial communities. The coexistence of excess N and 2 % PP MPs significantly reduced the abundance of genes (norB, nosZ and nirB) related to denitrification process. Structural equation modeling showed that MPs could promote underground biomass, reduce soil pH, inorganic N content, and reduce N uptake efficiency, thus resisting growth damage caused by high N. In the future, the effects of different concentrations and types of MPs and different nitrogen forms on soil and crops should be further investigated.
More Papers Like This
Polyethylene microplastic impairs soil gross nitrification and reduces fertilizer-derived nitrogen uptake in rice
AI summary Read the abstract
Using nitrogen isotope labeling, researchers found that polyethylene microplastics significantly impaired gross soil nitrification rates and reduced rice uptake of fertilizer nitrogen. The results indicate that microplastic pollution can undermine nitrogen use efficiency in agriculture, with potential implications for crop yields and fertilizer management.
Differential Effects of Polyethylene and Polystyrene Microplastics on the Composition and Functional Attributes of the Oat (Avena sativa L.) Rhizosphere Microbiome
AI summary Read the abstract
Tiny plastic particles from packaging and other products (polyethylene and polystyrene) are building up in farm soils, and this study found they can disrupt the helpful bacteria living around oat plant roots, changing their diversity and how well they cycle carbon and nitrogen, nutrients crops need to grow. This matters because these soil microbes play a key role in soil fertility and food production, so ongoing plastic pollution could quietly affect the health of the crops we eventually eat, even before we consider whether microplastics end up directly in our food.
Polyethylene microplastic and soil nitrogen dynamics: Unraveling the links between functional genes, microbial communities, and transformation processes
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers conducted a six-month experiment to understand how polyethylene microplastics in soil affect nitrogen cycling, a process critical for soil fertility and plant nutrition. They found that while total nitrogen levels stayed stable, microplastics significantly altered the forms of nitrogen present by increasing ammonium and nitrate while decreasing dissolved organic nitrogen. The study suggests that microplastics reshape soil microbial communities and their nitrogen-processing activities, potentially disrupting the natural nutrient balance in agricultural soils.
Comparative analysis of the effects of microplastics and nitrogen on maize and wheat: Growth, redox homeostasis, photosynthesis, and AsA-GSH cycle
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers compared how microplastics and nitrogen fertilizer, alone and together, affect the growth of maize and wheat. They found that microplastics inhibited growth in both crops but had more severe effects on maize, while nitrogen application helped alleviate some of the damage. The study suggests that adding nitrogen fertilizer may partially offset the harmful effects of microplastic contamination in agricultural soils.
Insights into soil autotrophic ammonium oxidization under microplastics stress: Crossroads of nitrification, comammox, anammox and Feammox
AI summary Read the abstract
This study found that microplastics in soil disrupted key nitrogen cycling processes carried out by bacteria, including nitrification and other pathways essential for soil fertility. Different types of microplastics had varying effects on the microbial communities responsible for converting nitrogen into forms plants can use. Since nitrogen availability directly affects crop growth, microplastic contamination in agricultural soil could subtly undermine food production.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.