Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Can RhizosphereEffects Mitigate the Threat from Nanoplasticsand Plastic Additives to Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)?

Researchers used a root-box system to examine how nanoplastics and the plasticizer DEHP interact in the rhizosphere of tomato plants, finding that DEHP dominated the plastic pollution risk to plants and that nanoplastic co-exposure did not mitigate DEHP toxicity to soil microorganisms but increased it for food safety.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Effects of nanoplastics and compound pollutants containing nanoplastics on plants, microorganisms and rhizosphere systems: A review

This review summarizes how nanoplastics, the tiniest plastic particles, affect plants, soil microorganisms, and the root zone where they interact. Nanoplastics can disrupt photosynthesis, alter gene activity, and reduce microbial diversity, and their harmful effects get worse when they combine with heavy metals or other pollutants. Since plant roots are a key pathway for nanoplastics to enter the food chain, these effects could ultimately impact the safety and nutritional quality of the food we eat.

2025 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Combined interactions and ecotoxicological effects of micro/nanoplastics and organic pollutants in soil–plant systems: a critical overview

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics interact with organic pollutants in soil-plant systems. The study highlights that these plastic particles can act synergistically with organic pollutants in terrestrial ecosystems, posing combined threats to soil and plant health that warrant further investigation.

2025 Environmental Science Advances 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro (nano) plastic pollution: The ecological influence on soil-plant system and human health.

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics affect soil health, plant growth, and food quality, finding that these particles accumulate in plant root systems and can reduce crop yields and alter nutritional content. Since contaminated soil and water are increasingly delivering microplastics to food crops, these findings are directly relevant to agricultural food safety.

2021 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

Effects of micro(nano)plastics on higher plants and the rhizosphere environment

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics affect higher plants and the soil environment around their roots. Researchers found that these particles can be absorbed through roots and transported to other plant tissues, causing oxidative stress and disrupting photosynthesis, metabolism, and gene expression. The study highlights that plastic pollution in soil threatens not only plant health but also the broader rhizosphere ecosystem that supports agriculture.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 183 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of Nanoplastic Contamination on Rhizosphere Microbiome and Plant Phenotype

This study examined how nanoplastic contamination affects the rhizosphere microbiome (soil bacteria around plant roots) and plant growth. Nanoplastic exposure altered soil microbial communities and reduced plant growth, suggesting these tiny plastic particles could disrupt the soil ecosystems that support food production.

2023
Article Tier 2

Effects of combined microplastics and heavy metals pollution on terrestrial plants and rhizosphere environment: A review

This review summarizes how microplastics and heavy metals interact in soil to affect plant growth and the surrounding ecosystem. When present together, these pollutants cause significantly more harm than either alone, reducing plant weight by up to 87.5% and altering how heavy metals accumulate in crops -- raising concerns about food safety and human exposure through contaminated agricultural products.

2024 Chemosphere 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Are nanoplastics potentially toxic for plants and rhizobiota? Current knowledge and recommendations

This review evaluates whether nanoplastics — the smallest plastic fragments, formed as larger plastics break down — are toxic to plants and the microorganisms living around their roots (rhizobiota). The evidence suggests nanoplastics can directly impair plant growth and indirectly harm soil biology by altering soil chemistry and releasing associated contaminants. Because soil is becoming a major reservoir for plastic pollution, understanding these effects is critical for global food security and soil ecosystem health.

2023 NanoImpact 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of microplastics aerial deposition on rhizosphere soil ecology: the case study of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) exposed to polyethylene

Researchers investigated the impact of aerial polyethylene microsphere deposition on tomato plants at concentrations of 10, 100, and 1000 mg/L, finding that while shoot biomass was unaffected, exposure significantly altered root metabolite profiles (increasing amino acids, decreasing fatty acids and organic acids) and shifted rhizosphere bacterial and fungal community composition.

2022 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Review Tier 2

Unveiling the mechanism of micro-and-nano plastic phytotoxicity on terrestrial plants: A comprehensive review of omics approaches.

This comprehensive review examined how micro-and-nano plastics (MNPs) in terrestrial soils damage plant health by inhibiting water and nutrient uptake, reducing seed germination, impairing photosynthesis, and inducing oxidative stress. The review identified key knowledge gaps in understanding MNP phytotoxicity mechanisms and their implications for food security.

2025 Environment international
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastic and phthalate induced stress responses in rhizosphere soil: Microbial communities and metabolic networks

This study looked at how nanoplastics and a common plasticizer chemical (DBP) together affect the soil around dandelion roots, finding that the combination reduced soil quality and reshaped the communities of bacteria and fungi. The disruption of soil microbes and their chemical processes matters because it can affect the safety and quality of plants used for food and medicine.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Co-exposure of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) decreased the submicron plastic stress in soil–plant system

Researchers exposed lettuce plants to submicron plastic particles combined with DEHP (a common plasticizer found in agricultural films), finding that DEHP surprisingly reduced how much plastic the plants absorbed and lowered oxidative stress markers. This unexpected result suggests that when plastics and their chemical additives are present together in soil — as they typically are — they can counteract each other's harmful effects rather than amplifying them.

2025 Eco-Environment & Health 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Tiny pollutants, big consequences: investigating the influence of nano- and microplastics on soil properties and plant health with mitigation strategies

Researchers reviewed the impact of nanoplastics and microplastics on soil properties and plant health, examining absorption and translocation mechanisms in plants. The study suggests that plastic particles alter soil structure and microbial communities, impair plant growth and nutrient uptake, and proposes mitigation strategies to address these emerging threats to agricultural ecosystems.

2025 Environmental Science Processes & Impacts 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Particulate plastics-plant interaction in soil and its implications: A review

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics in soil interact with plants, including uptake through roots, accumulation in plant tissues, and effects on growth, nutrient absorption, and soil microbial communities. The study highlights that these plastic particles can alter soil structure and chemistry in ways that affect crop development, raising concerns about food safety and agricultural productivity.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 93 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro and nano-plastics on environmental health: a review on future thrust in agro-ecotoxicology management

This review examines the growing body of evidence on how microplastics and nanoplastics affect plant health, soil microbial communities, and agricultural productivity. The study highlights that plastic accumulation in agricultural soils can alter crop growth and yield while disrupting soil ecosystem dynamics, and calls for greater attention to agro-ecotoxicology management to address these emerging threats to food production.

2025 Environmental Geochemistry and Health 1 citations
Clinical Trial Tier 1

Effects of microplastics polluted soil on the growth of Solanum lycopersicum L.

This study tested how microplastic-contaminated soil affects tomato plant growth, finding that higher concentrations of plastic particles in soil reduced plant height, root development, and overall crop health. The results suggest that microplastic pollution in farmland could reduce food crop yields and potentially affect the quality of the produce we eat.

2024 ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Diversity and interactions of rhizobacteria determine multinutrient traits in tomato host plants under nitrogen and water disturbances

Researchers investigated how root-associated bacteria help tomato plants maintain nutrient uptake under nitrogen and water stress conditions. They found that microbial diversity and species interactions were key factors in supporting the plant's ability to acquire multiple nutrients simultaneously. While not directly about microplastics, the study advances understanding of soil microbiome dynamics that are relevant to agricultural systems increasingly affected by plastic contamination.

2024 Horticulture Research 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradable microplastics affect tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) growth by interfering rhizosphere key phylotypes

Scientists found that biodegradable microplastics, often promoted as eco-friendly alternatives, can negatively affect tomato plant growth by disrupting beneficial soil bacteria around the roots. This suggests that even plastics designed to break down in the environment may still pose risks to agriculture and food production as they degrade into microplastic fragments.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 11 citations
Article Tier 2

From the shoot to the rhizosphere: The short-term cascade impact of aerial microplastic

Researchers tested how foliar polyethylene microsphere exposure in tomato plants cascades from leaf physiological changes to altered root metabolite composition and root-associated microbiome structure, finding that aerial MP exposure reshapes plant-soil interactions through systemic signaling.

2025 Environmental and Experimental Botany
Article Tier 2

Potential impacts of two types of microplastics on Solanum lycopersicum L. and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Researchers investigated the potential impacts of two types of microplastics on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, examining how plastic pollution may disrupt plant-fungal symbiotic relationships in agricultural soils.

2022 Ceylon Journal of Science 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Organic fertilizer mitigated the oxidative stress of tomato induced by nanoplastics through affecting rhizosphere soil microorganisms and bacteriophage functions

Researchers investigated whether organic fertilizer could protect tomato plants from the harmful effects of nanoplastics in soil. They found that organic fertilizer reduced oxidative stress in tomato stems by roughly 25-35% compared to chemical fertilizer, primarily by boosting beneficial soil bacteria and bacteriophage activity in the root zone. The study suggests that organic farming practices may help buffer crops against nanoplastic contamination in agricultural soils.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of micro and nanoplastics on plant-assisted bioremediation for contaminated soil recovery: A review

This review examines how the growing presence of micro- and nanoplastics in contaminated soils affects plant-assisted bioremediation, finding that microplastics disrupt the plant-microbe rhizosphere interactions that make phytoremediation effective for removing heavy metals and degrading organic pollutants.

2025 The Science of The Total Environment
Article Tier 2

Earthworms improve the rhizosphere micro-environment to mitigate the toxicity of microplastics to tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

Researchers found that adding earthworms to soil contaminated with microplastics helped protect tomato plants from the negative effects of the plastic particles. The earthworms improved soil structure, boosted beneficial microbe populations, and enhanced nutrient availability around the roots, suggesting that maintaining healthy soil ecosystems with earthworms could be a natural way to buffer crops against microplastic pollution.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Can microplastics threaten plant productivity and fruit quality? Insights from Micro-Tom and Micro-PET/PVC

Researchers grew tomato plants in soil containing environmentally realistic levels of PET and PVC microplastics and found mixed effects on plant productivity and fruit quality. While some growth parameters were affected, the microplastics also altered the mineral content of the tomatoes. This study suggests that microplastics in agricultural soil could change the nutritional profile of the food we eat.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 58 citations