Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Exploring the potential of biochar for the remediation of microbial communities and element cycling in microplastic-contaminated soil

Scientists found that adding biochar (a charcoal-like material made from plant waste) to soil contaminated with microplastics helped restore healthy microbial communities and nutrient cycling. The biochar reversed negative effects that microplastics had on soil chemistry, including nitrogen and phosphorus availability. This suggests biochar could be a practical tool for repairing farmland damaged by microplastic pollution.

2024 Chemosphere 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Biochar-mediated remediation of low-density polyethylene microplastic-polluted soil-plant systems: Role of phosphorus and protist community responses

Researchers found that adding biochar (a charcoal-like soil additive) to soil contaminated with microplastics helped improve plant growth by restoring phosphorus cycling. The microplastics disrupted soil microbe communities, but biochar treatment shifted these communities in beneficial ways. This suggests biochar could be a practical tool for farming in soils contaminated with plastic pollution.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Influence of polyethylene terephthalate microplastic and biochar co-existence on paddy soil bacterial community structure and greenhouse gas emission

Researchers studied how polyethylene terephthalate microplastics and biochar, both common in agricultural soils, affect soil bacteria and greenhouse gas emissions during rice cultivation. They found that microplastics alone reduced bacterial diversity, but adding biochar alongside the microplastics partially restored microbial communities and altered gas emissions. The study suggests that biochar may help mitigate some of the negative soil health effects of microplastic contamination in paddy fields.

2021 Environmental Pollution 135 citations
Article Tier 2

Biochar Mitigates the Negative Effects of Microplastics on Sugarcane Growth by Altering Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Structure and Function

Microplastic contamination in sugarcane-growing soils in China reduces crop biomass and degrades soil nutrients and microbial diversity. Adding biochar to microplastic-polluted soil helped offset these harms — restoring sugarcane growth, stabilizing soil pH, and improving bacterial community richness. The findings suggest biochar is a practical tool for rehabilitating agricultural land affected by plastic pollution.

2023 Plants 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Biochar counteracts the negative effects of microplastics on physiological and biochemical characteristics and leaf metabolism in Zea mays L

Researchers studied whether biochar could counteract the harmful effects of microplastics on maize plant growth and soil health. They found that adding biochar to microplastic-contaminated soil restored antioxidant enzyme balance, improved beneficial metabolic pathways in leaves, and increased bacterial community diversity. The study suggests biochar may help plants resist microplastic-induced stress by boosting glucose metabolism in root systems.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Biochar alleviated the toxic effects of PVC microplastic in a soil-plant system by upregulating soil enzyme activities and microbial abundance

Researchers tested whether adding biochar to soil could reduce the harmful effects of PVC microplastic contamination on plant growth and soil health. They found that biochar amendment increased plant biomass, restored soil enzyme activity, and boosted beneficial microbial populations that had been suppressed by the microplastics. The study suggests that biochar could serve as a practical tool for rehabilitating agricultural soils contaminated with plastic particles.

2023 Environmental Pollution 72 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of biochar amendment on bacterial communities and their function predictions in a microplastic-contaminated Capsicum annuum L. soil

Researchers investigated how adding biochar to soil contaminated with microplastics affects bacterial communities during pepper plant growth. They found that biochar amendment helped restore bacterial diversity and shifted community composition toward beneficial species, counteracting some of the negative effects of microplastic contamination. The study suggests that biochar could be a practical soil management tool for supporting microbial health in plastic-polluted agricultural systems.

2023 Environmental Technology & Innovation 63 citations
Article Tier 2

Biochar relieves the toxic effects of microplastics on the root-rhizosphere soil system by altering root expression profiles and microbial diversity and functions

Researchers found that adding biochar (a charcoal-like soil amendment) to soil contaminated with polystyrene microplastics helped peanut plants recover by boosting their antioxidant defenses and restoring beneficial soil bacteria. This suggests biochar could be a practical tool for protecting crops in microplastic-contaminated farmland, which matters for food safety and reducing the amount of microplastics that enter the human food chain.

2024 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 46 citations
Article Tier 2

Phosphorus fertiliser application mitigates the negative effects of microplastic on soil microbes and rice growth

Researchers found that adding phosphorus fertilizer to soil contaminated with microplastics helped counteract the negative effects of the plastics on rice growth and soil microbial communities. The microplastics alone disrupted bacterial interactions and suppressed plant development, but fertilizer application restored much of the lost productivity. The study offers practical guidance for managing agricultural soils in areas affected by microplastic pollution.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Plant-driven strategies for mitigating microplastic pollution in agricultural ecosystems

Researchers review how microplastics damage agricultural soils and crops — disrupting soil structure, starving plants of nutrients, and triggering oxidative stress — and explore plant- and microbe-based strategies like root-associated bacteria and biochar amendments as promising but underexplored tools for cleaning up plastic-contaminated farmland.

2025 Hygiene and Environmental Health Advances
Article Tier 2

Biochar alters chemical and microbial properties of microplastic-contaminated soil

Researchers found that biochar amendments improved chemical and microbial properties of microplastic-contaminated soil, with effects varying by biochar type and water conditions, suggesting biochar as a potential remediation tool for plastic-polluted agricultural soils.

2022 Environmental Research 108 citations
Article Tier 2

Mitigating microplastic stress on peanuts: The role of biochar-based synthetic community in the preservation of soil physicochemical properties and microbial diversity

Researchers found that tire-derived microplastics in soil harmed peanut plant growth and disrupted soil bacteria, but adding biochar with a specially designed bacterial community helped counteract the damage. The biochar treatment restored soil health, improved microbial diversity, and boosted peanut growth even in microplastic-contaminated soil. This approach could help protect food crops from the harmful effects of microplastic pollution in agricultural land.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Combined effect of biochar and soil moisture on soil chemical properties and microbial community composition in microplastic‐contaminated agricultural soil

Biochar was applied to microplastic-contaminated agricultural soil under different moisture conditions, with results showing that biochar improved soil chemical properties and shifted microbial communities in ways that partially offset microplastic-induced degradation. The study suggests biochar as a practical soil amendment to mitigate microplastic impacts in farming systems.

2022 Soil Use and Management 49 citations
Article Tier 2

Divergent mechanisms of labile phosphorus accumulation in paddy soils under TPU microplastics versus manure-derived hydrochar: roles of dissolved organic matter and bacterial communities

Scientists found that tiny plastic particles and a charcoal-like material called hydrochar can increase the amount of phosphorus available to rice plants in soil by 14-21%. Both materials work by changing the soil's chemistry and the helpful bacteria that live in it, but they do it in different ways. This matters because phosphorus is essential for growing healthy crops, and understanding how plastic pollution affects soil could help farmers maintain productive rice fields.

2026 Carbon Research
Article Tier 2

Effects of incorporating biochar on soil quality and barley yield in microplastics-contaminated soils

This study tested whether adding biochar to microplastic-contaminated soil could improve soil quality and crop performance. Researchers found that biochar application helped offset some of the negative effects of microplastics on soil properties and boosted barley yields even under drought conditions. The results suggest biochar could be a practical tool for managing farmland affected by plastic pollution.

2024 Chemosphere 7 citations
Article Tier 2

How biochar works, and when it doesn't: A review of mechanisms controlling soil and plant responses to biochar

This comprehensive review synthesizes 20 years of research on biochar, a charcoal-like material made from organic waste that can improve soil health and reduce pollution. Biochar can reduce plant uptake of heavy metals by 17-39% and increase nutrient availability, making it potentially useful for cleaning up microplastic-contaminated soils. While not directly about microplastics, the findings are relevant because biochar could help mitigate the effects of soil pollutants that microplastics carry and concentrate.

2021 GCB Bioenergy 872 citations
Article Tier 2

Biochar Influences Polyethylene Microplastic-Contaminated Soil Properties and Enzyme Activities

This study examined how biochar additions modify the properties of polyethylene microplastic-contaminated soil and affect plant growth, finding that biochar partially mitigated microplastic-induced soil degradation and improved plant performance. Biochar shows promise as a low-cost soil amendment to counteract microplastic impacts.

2024 Agronomy 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Investigation of the effects of polyethylene microplastics at environmentally relevant concentrations on the plant-soil-microbiota system: A two-year field trial

Researchers conducted a two-year field trial to study how polyethylene microplastics at environmentally relevant concentrations affect crops, soil, and microbial communities in a rice-wheat rotation system. They found that microplastics did not harm wheat growth but actually increased rice grain weight and plant height, while reducing soil nutrient levels including nitrogen and phosphorus. The study reveals that microplastics can alter soil bacterial communities and disrupt metabolic processes in ways that differ between crop seasons.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Biochar and organic fertilizer applications enhance soil functional microbial abundance and agroecosystem multifunctionality

A long-term field study found that adding biochar (a charcoal-like material) and organic fertilizer to farm soil significantly boosted beneficial soil microbes involved in nutrient cycling and improved overall ecosystem health by up to 30%. While not directly about microplastics, biochar has been shown in other studies to bind microplastics and reduce their movement through soil, making this approach potentially beneficial for both soil productivity and microplastic mitigation on farms.

2024 Biochar 143 citations
Article Tier 2

[Effects of Biochar Application on Physicochemical Properties and Bacterial Communities of Microplastic-contaminated Calcareous Soil].

Researchers conducted a 21-day micro-soil culture experiment to assess the effects of biochar amendment on physicochemical properties and bacterial communities in calcareous soil contaminated with microplastics, using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing. Biochar slowed decreases in nitrate nitrogen and Olsen-P in microplastic-contaminated soil and increased the relative abundance of stress-tolerant phyla including Acidobacteriota, Actinobacteriota, and Bacteroidota.

2023 PubMed 3 citations