Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Plastic mulching in agriculture. Trading short-term agronomic benefits for long-term soil degradation?

This study examined plastic mulch use in agriculture, arguing that short-term crop benefits come with long-term costs as mulch fragments accumulate in soil as microplastics and disrupt soil structure, biology, and water dynamics.

2016 The Science of The Total Environment 1452 citations
Article Tier 2

Piece by piece: plastics in soil ecosystems

This thesis examined plastic and microplastic contamination in soil ecosystems across nine chapters, focusing on impacts of conventional and biodegradable agricultural mulch films on soil health, biodegradation dynamics, and methodological challenges in detecting and quantifying soil microplastics.

2025
Article Tier 2

Tiny toxins, big problems: the hidden threat of microplastic in agroecosystems

This review examines the impacts of microplastic contamination in agricultural soils, covering sources from plastic mulch and irrigation, effects on soil structure, water retention, microbial diversity, and nutrient cycling, and consequences for crop health and food safety.

2025 Plant Science Today
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Agricultural Soils: Sources, Fate, and Interactions with Other Contaminants

This review examines how microplastics enter farmland through irrigation, fertilizers, and plastic mulch, and how long-term farming practices affect their spread and aging in soil. The paper highlights that microplastics can either increase or decrease the toxicity of co-existing pollutants like pesticides and heavy metals depending on how strongly each contaminant binds to soil versus plastic particles.

2025 Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 10 citations
Review Tier 2

Microplastic contamination in the agricultural soil—mitigation strategies, heavy metals contamination, and impact on human health: a review

This review examines how microplastics contaminate agricultural soil through plastic mulch, irrigation water, and fertilizers, then alter soil chemistry, harm beneficial microorganisms, and reduce crop productivity. The authors highlight that microplastics can accumulate in crops and enter the human food chain, posing risks to food safety and human health, particularly through daily food and water consumption.

2024 Plant Cell Reports 81 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in agroecosystem – effects of plastic mulch film residues on soil-plant system

This review examines how residues from both conventional polyethylene and biodegradable plastic mulch films accumulate in agricultural soils and affect plant growth and soil health. Both types of mulch film residues are found to have negative effects on the soil-plant system, raising questions about the environmental safety of biodegradable plastic alternatives.

2020 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Agriculture- a Review

This review examines the growing presence of microplastics in agricultural environments, covering their sources from plastic mulch films and irrigation water, their effects on soil health and crop quality, and the implications for food safety and sustainable agriculture.

2025 International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Pollution in Terrestrial Ecosystems and Its Interaction with Other Soil Pollutants: A Potential Threat to Soil Ecosystem Sustainability

This review examines microplastic pollution in soils and how plastic particles interact with other pollutants like pesticides and heavy metals. About 80% of all plastic waste produced in the last 75 years has ended up in landfills or the environment, where it breaks into microplastics that alter soil health and contaminate crops. The combined effects of microplastics with other soil pollutants could threaten food safety and ultimately human health.

2023 Resources 83 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental health implications of plastic use in agriculture

This review discusses the environmental health implications of plastic use in agriculture, including soil microplastic accumulation from mulch films, microplastic uptake by crops, and potential entry into the food chain. The authors recommend shifting toward biodegradable alternatives and tightening regulations on agricultural plastic disposal.

2024 Open Access Government
Systematic Review Tier 1

Environmental fate and effects of mulch films on agricultural soil: A systematic review from application to residual impact

This systematic review examines how plastic mulch films used in agriculture break down over time and release microplastics into farm soil. The films improve crop growth but create lasting environmental damage as plastic fragments accumulate and alter soil properties. The findings underscore the importance of developing truly biodegradable alternatives to protect farmland from microplastic pollution.

2025 Figshare
Systematic Review Tier 1

Environmental fate and effects of mulch films on agricultural soil: A systematic review from application to residual impact

This systematic review traces the full lifecycle of plastic mulch films used in farming, from application to breakdown in soil. While these films boost crop yields, they leave behind persistent residues that fragment into microplastics, potentially contaminating soil and groundwater. The review highlights the need for biodegradable alternatives to reduce long-term microplastic accumulation in agricultural land.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Plastics in soils: impacts on agriculture and food

This work reviews the impacts of plastic pollution in soils on agricultural productivity and food safety, examining how plastic particles and associated chemicals affect soil health, crop growth, and food quality. The publication is part of the international scientific literature on plastic contamination of agricultural systems.

2024 SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
Article Tier 2

Influence on the processes of retention and transport of pesticides and ecotoxicity of microplastics in a tropical soil

Researchers investigated how high-density polyethylene microplastics from agricultural mulch films affect the behavior of three pesticides in tropical soil, finding that microplastics altered pesticide sorption, transport, and leaching while also increasing ecotoxicological effects on earthworms.

2023 Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Universidade de São Paulo)
Article Tier 2

Microplastic contamination in agricultural soils from mulch films and organic amendments: Transformation mechanism, soil-Biota toxicity, and future perspectives

This review examines how agricultural soils are becoming increasingly contaminated with microplastics from plastic mulch films and organic amendments like compost, with land-based contamination being 4 to 23 times higher than in water. Microplastics in farmland can harm soil organisms, disrupt soil structure, and enter the food chain through crops, posing potential risks to human health.

2025 Waste Management 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Polyethylene film incorporation into the horticultural soil of small periurban production units in Argentina

Researchers surveyed Argentine horticultural soils and found plastic film residues covering 10% of the soil area, then demonstrated in laboratory experiments that polyethylene film strongly adsorbs pesticides (up to 2,284 µg per gram of plastic versus 32 µg per gram of soil), suggesting plastic mulch residues act as pesticide reservoirs that may alter contaminant fate in agricultural fields.

2015 The Science of The Total Environment 285 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics accumulation in agricultural soil: Evidence for the presence, potential effects, extraction, and current bioremediation approaches

This review examines the accumulation of microplastics in agricultural soils from sources like plastic mulching and irrigation, discussing their effects on soil properties and crop growth, along with current bioremediation approaches for removing soil microplastics.

2022 Journal of Applied Biology & Biotechnology 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Soil: Inventories, Effect and Environmental Risks

This review synthesizes global evidence on microplastic contamination of agricultural soils, covering input pathways (mulch films, sludge, irrigation), environmental risks to soil structure and organisms, and the broader implications for ecosystem services and food security.

2025 Sustainability Sciences in Asia and Africa
Article Tier 2

Behavior of microplastics and plastic film residues in the soil environment: A critical review

This critical review examines the behavior and fate of microplastics in soil environments, particularly in agricultural land where plastic mulch films and biosolid applications have left a legacy of contamination. Researchers note that many soils now contain an estimated 50 to 250 kilograms of plastic residue per hectare, but the difficulty of extracting and measuring plastic particles from soil has limited our understanding of the risks. The study calls for improved methods to assess whether soil-borne microplastics can migrate to groundwater, air, and the human food chain.

2019 The Science of The Total Environment 886 citations
Article Tier 2

Macro- and microplastic accumulation in soil after 32 years of plastic film mulching

Researchers quantified plastic accumulation in an agricultural field after 32 continuous years of plastic mulch film use. They found roughly 10 times more macroplastic fragments in fertilized plots than non-fertilized plots, likely because plant roots and stems became entangled with the film making removal difficult. The study found that plastic mulch contributed 33% to 56% of total microplastics detected down to one meter of soil depth, demonstrating substantial long-term accumulation from agricultural plastic use.

2022 Environmental Pollution 402 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Agricultural Soils: An Emerging Threat to Soil Health, Microbial Ecology, Crop Productivity, and Food Safety

This review examines how microplastics accumulate in agricultural soils from sources like plastic mulch, sewage sludge, and atmospheric deposition. Researchers found that these particles can disrupt soil microbial communities, harm plant health, and potentially enter the human food chain. The study highlights the urgent need for mitigation strategies to address this growing but often overlooked form of pollution in farmland.

2025 International Journal of Plant & Soil Science 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in agricultural soils: a new challenge not only for agro-environmental policy?

This review addresses microplastic pollution in agricultural soils, identifying farming practices like mulching and sludge application as significant sources and discussing potential impacts on soil health and food safety. It calls for both policy action and more research on microplastic behavior in terrestrial environments.

2019 AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Agricultural Soil

This book chapter surveys microplastic contamination in agricultural soils, reviewing the sources of plastic inputs, concentrations found in different farming systems, and the effects of MPs on soil properties, microbial communities, and crop yields.

2025
Article Tier 2

Environmental fate of microplastics and common polymer additives in non-biodegradable plastic mulch applied agricultural soils

This review examines how plastic mulch films used in farming gradually break down and release both microplastics and chemical additives like phthalates and bisphenol A into agricultural soil. These chemicals have been found at concerning levels in farmland and can be taken up by crops, harm soil organisms like earthworms, and disrupt soil microbial communities, ultimately creating pathways for these toxins to enter our food.

2024 Environmental Pollution 37 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Plastic-Mulched Sandy Soil: Abundance, Characterization, Heavy Metal Accumulation and Risks in Agricultural Fields

This study characterized microplastics in plastic-mulched sandy soils, quantifying particle abundance, polymer types, heavy metal associations, and potential risks to soil organisms from combined plastic and metal contamination.

2024 1 citations