Papers

61,005 results
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Commentary Tier 3

Editorial: Impact of microplastics on soil health and plant physiology in agricultural ecosystems

This editorial introduces a research collection on microplastic impacts in agricultural soil ecosystems, highlighting how plastic contamination alters soil biogeochemical processes, microbial activity, and plant physiology, and calling for a precautionary approach to plastic use in farming.

2025 Frontiers in Plant Science
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

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

Recent advances on microplastics/nanoplastics interaction with plant species: A concise review

This review synthesizes research on how microplastics and nanoplastics interact with plants, finding that plastic particles in soil can interfere with root uptake, germination, and crop yields depending on the type and concentration of plastic present. The findings are particularly relevant to human health because food crops grown in microplastic-contaminated agricultural soils may absorb or accumulate plastic particles, creating a direct dietary exposure route.

2023 Malaysian Journal of Chemical Engineering and Technology
Article Tier 2

Microplastic/nanoplastic toxicity in plants: an imminent concern

This review examines the growing body of research on how microplastics and nanoplastics affect terrestrial plants, from root uptake to changes in growth and gene expression. Researchers found that these particles can alter plant physiology and biochemistry at varying degrees depending on particle size and concentration. The study calls for more research on how plastic contamination in soil may ultimately affect food crop quality and human health through the food chain.

2022 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 182 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro/nanoplastics: a potential threat to crops

This review examines micro- and nanoplastic contamination in agricultural soil and water, summarizing sources, adsorption onto microplastics, uptake pathways into crops, effects on plant growth and physiology, and current detection and removal approaches, while highlighting the limited data on nanoplastic transport in plants.

2023 Vegetable Research 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and nanoplastics in the soil-plant nexus: Sources, uptake, and toxicity

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics accumulate in agricultural soils from plastic products and affect the soil-plant system. Researchers found that nanoplastics can be taken up by plant roots, cause oxidative stress, and negatively affect crop growth. The findings raise concerns about food safety since these particles may carry co-contaminants into the food chain.

2023 Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 51 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

Impact of microplastics on terrestrial ecosystems: A plant-centric perspective

This review focuses on how microplastics affect plants and soil health in agricultural settings, an area that has received less attention than marine microplastic pollution. The researchers describe how microplastics can alter soil structure, disrupt microbial communities, and enter plant tissues through unique transport mechanisms. The study highlights that agricultural soils are a major sink for microplastics, with potential consequences for food safety and crop productivity.

2024 Environmental Pollution and Management 7 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
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Their Effect in Horticultural Crops: Food Safety and Plant Stress

This review examined how microplastics and nanoplastics accumulate in agricultural soils and enter the food chain through edible plants and animals, concluding that plastic contamination represents a multi-pathway food safety risk requiring coordinated regulatory and agronomic responses.

2021 Agronomy 44 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Effects of nano- & microplastics on terrestrial plants are ubiquitous and widespread: a systematic review

This systematic review finds that nano- and microplastics have widespread negative effects on plants, including reduced germination, stunted growth, and biochemical stress responses. Since plants form the base of our food supply, these findings suggest that microplastic contamination in agricultural soils could affect crop health and potentially the quality of food we eat.

2023 CNR ExploRA
Article Tier 2

Recent Advances on Multilevel Effects of Micro(Nano)Plastics and Coexisting Pollutants on Terrestrial Soil-Plants System

This review systematically summarizes how micro- and nanoplastics, alone and combined with co-existing pollutants, affect soil properties and terrestrial plants at multiple biological levels. Researchers found that microplastics can serve as carriers for heavy metals, organic contaminants, and biological pollutants, with their specific impacts depending on polymer type, size, shape, and concentration. Evidence indicates that plants can take up and transport micro- and nanoplastics, leading to effects on growth, metabolism, and even DNA damage.

2023 Sustainability 28 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics interaction with terrestrial plants and their impacts on agriculture

This review summarizes what is known about how microplastics interact with terrestrial plants, including how they are taken up, transported through plant tissues, and affect growth and agricultural productivity. Researchers note that while marine microplastic research is extensive, studies on soil ecosystems and crop impacts remain limited. The study highlights the need for more research on how microplastics in agricultural soils may ultimately affect food safety and human health.

2021 Journal of Environmental Quality 114 citations
Article Tier 2

Impacts of Micro/Nanoplastics on Crop Physiology and Soil Ecosystems: A Review

This review synthesized evidence on how micro- and nanoplastics affect crop physiology and soil ecosystems, covering how plastic particles enter plants via roots, disrupt soil microbiota, and impair crop growth through oxidative stress, nutrient cycling disruption, and physical root interference. The authors found that nanoplastics pose greater plant risks than microplastics due to their ability to cross cell membranes.

2025 Soil Systems
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Pollution: An Emerging Threat to Terrestrial Plants and Insights into Its Remediation Strategies

This review highlights the emerging threat of microplastic pollution to terrestrial plants and agroecosystems, summarizing sources, interactions with soil and crops, and potential remediation strategies for safe agricultural practices.

2022 Plants 82 citations
Article Tier 2

Impacts of microplastics on terrestrial plants: A critical review

This review examines how microplastics affect land-based plants, finding that they can alter soil structure, disrupt beneficial soil microbes, and reduce plant growth. Microplastics also carry toxic chemicals like plasticizers and heavy metals that can be taken up by plant roots and enter the food chain. The findings raise concerns about human health since contaminated crops could be a hidden source of microplastic and chemical exposure in our diets.

2024 Land Degradation and Development 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastic–plant interaction and implications for soil health

This review summarizes research on how nanoplastics interact with plants in soil environments, finding that these tiny particles can be taken up by roots and transported to all plant organs, including edible parts like grain. Researchers found that nanoplastics induce oxidative stress in plants, inhibiting photosynthesis and growth, and can also carry other soil pollutants into plant tissues. The study highlights significant concerns about nanoplastic contamination entering the food chain through agricultural crops.

2022 Soil Use and Management 46 citations
Review Tier 2

Microplastics in plant-microbes-soil system: A review on recent studies

This review examined microplastic interactions within the plant-microbe-soil system, finding that microplastics affect soil physicochemical properties, alter microbial communities, and can be taken up by plants, with implications for food safety and ecosystem health.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 111 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro and Nanoplastics in Soil

This book provides a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge on microplastics in soils, covering their sources, distribution, and interactions with plants grown in contaminated soil environments.

2023 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in terrestrial ecosystem: Exploring the menace to the soil-plant-microbe interactions

This review summarizes existing research on how microplastics affect the complex relationships between soil, plants, and soil microbes. Microplastics alter soil structure, change the makeup of microbial communities, and disrupt beneficial partnerships between plants and helpful fungi and bacteria. These disruptions can reduce plant growth and nutrient cycling, which could ultimately affect crop yields and the quality of food produced on microplastic-contaminated farmland.

2024 TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry 81 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and plant health: a comprehensive review of sources, distribution, toxicity, and remediation

This review summarizes how microplastics enter soil from agricultural films, sewage sludge, textiles, and cosmetics, then get absorbed by plant roots and transported to edible parts, posing risks to food safety. Exposure to microplastics causes oxidative stress, genetic damage, and disrupts photosynthesis in plants, while also carrying heavy metals and pathogens deeper into the food chain.

2025 npj Emerging Contaminants 37 citations
Article Tier 2

Behavior of Microplastics and Nanoplasticsin Farmland Soil Environment and Mechanismsof Interaction with Plants

This review summarizes how microplastics and nanoplastics behave in farmland soil and how they interact with crop plants. Nanoplastics are especially concerning because they can travel through plant roots and move via internal transport systems to reach leaves, fruits, and even seeds. The review highlights that microplastic-contaminated soil could lead to plastic particles entering the human food chain through the crops we eat, though more long-term studies are needed to fully understand the risks.

2024 Polish Journal of Environmental Studies 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Zanieczyszczenie gleb mikroplastikami i jego skutki dla roślin

This review summarizes how micro- and nanoplastics are absorbed by plants and affect their growth, finding that smaller particles penetrate more deeply into plant tissues and cause oxidative stress, growth disruption, and structural cell damage with implications for food safety.

2025 Progress in Plant Protection