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Polymer-Specific Effects of Microplastics on Sweet Potato Performance and Soil Enzyme Activities
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A controlled 50-day experiment found that polystyrene, polyethylene, and polypropylene microplastics have markedly different effects on sweet potato growth, nutrient uptake, soil enzyme activity, and metabolomic profiles, with polymer type determining whether outcomes are beneficial or harmful. These polymer-specific differences show that microplastic soil contamination cannot be treated as uniform, posing complex and unpredictable risks to staple food crop production.
Microplastics (MPs) are emerging soil contaminants with potential to disrupt plant-soil interactions, yet their impact on staple crops like sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) remains poorly understood. This study investigated the effects of polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE), and polypropylene (PP) MPs at low (0.1%) and high (1%) concentrations on sweet potato growth, metabolism, and soil enzyme activities. Sweet potato seedlings were grown in controlled conditions for 50 days, with MPs mixed into soil. PE and PP MPs significantly enhanced shoot length (up to 30.52%), root length (up to 47.65%), and biomass (up to 134.5%), while PS MPs showed neutral or inhibitory effects. PE MPs increased chlorophyll content (13.48%) and nutrient uptake (Zn: + 53.3%; Mg: + 71.3%), whereas PS MPs reduced chlorophyll (–10.78%) and increased oxidative stress (MDA: + 21.4%). Soil enzyme activities (amylase, phosphatase) decreased under all MPs, with PS causing the strongest inhibition (amylase: –82.8%). Metabolomic profiling revealed 41 significantly altered metabolites, with PE MPs promoting osmoprotective and energy-related pathways, PS MPs inducing metabolic constraints, and PP MPs triggering stress-tolerant adjustments. These polymer-specific effects highlight MPs’ complex influence on soil physicochemical properties, nutrient cycling, and plant physiology. These polymer-specific effects highlight the risk of MPs to agroecosystem health, emphasizing monitoring in staple crop systems to inform sustainable mitigation.
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Microplastics in Soil-Plant Systems
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This review synthesized evidence on microplastic contamination in terrestrial soil-plant systems, examining effects on soil structure, nutrient cycling, microbial communities, and plant uptake of plastic particles. Because plants can absorb microplastics and translocate them into edible tissue, agricultural soil contamination represents a direct and underappreciated pathway of human dietary exposure to plastic particles.
Microplastics Alter Dehydrogenase, Urease, and Cellulase Activities in Soil
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Laboratory experiments demonstrated that low-density polyethylene, polystyrene, and nylon microplastics alter the activity of key soil enzymes—dehydrogenase, urease, and cellulase—in ways that vary by polymer type, concentration, and exposure duration. Disruption of these enzymes undermines essential soil functions like nitrogen cycling and organic matter decomposition, threatening agricultural productivity and highlighting broader ecosystem risks of microplastic accumulation in farmland soils.
Impact of microplastics on soil (physical and chemical) properties, soil biological properties/soil biota, and response of plants to it: a review
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This comprehensive review synthesizes evidence that microplastics alter soil physical structure, chemical properties including pH and nutrient cycling, and the communities of earthworms, collembolans, and microbes that maintain soil health, with cascading effects on plant growth and agricultural productivity. Because healthy soils underpin global food production, microplastic-driven degradation of soil ecosystems represents a long-term threat to food security and introduces a terrestrial route by which plastic contaminants accumulate in crops consumed by humans.
The effects of different types microplastics on soil properties and the biochemistry of Chinese cabbage under different dosages and exposure times
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Microplastics from packaging and other plastic waste are building up in farm soils, and this study found that they can change soil quality and stress out crops like Chinese cabbage, altering nutrients, water content, and the plant's natural defense systems, especially at high concentrations. While this research looked at soil and plant health rather than testing the cabbage for human safety, it's a reminder that the plastic pollution we create doesn't just disappear, it may be quietly affecting the soil that grows our food.
Soil health and microplastics: a review of the impacts of microplastic contamination on soil properties
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Researchers reviewed a decade of studies on microplastic contamination in soil and found that microplastics alter soil chemistry and biology in complex ways depending on plastic type and concentration, with impacts expected to worsen as global plastic production continues to rise.
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