TITLE:
Impacts of Micro- and Nano-Plastics on Soil Properties and Plant Production in Agroecosystems: A Mini-Review
AUTHORS:
Dafeng Hui, Faisal Hayat, Muhammad Salam, Prabodh Illukpitiya
KEYWORDS:
Soil Property, Micro- and Nano-Plastics, Crop Yield, Soil Microorganism, Soil Fauna, Soil Greenhouse Gas Emissions
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.15 No.10,
October
10,
2024
ABSTRACT: Micro- and nano-plastics (MNPs) are tiny plastic particles resulting from plastic product degradation. Soil MNPs have been identified as potential influential factors affecting various soil properties and crop biomass productivity. This mini-review provides a synthesis of recent findings concerning their effects on soil physicochemical properties, microorganisms, organic carbon content, soil nutrients, greenhouse gas emissions, soil fauna, and their impacts on plant ecophysiology, growth, and production. The results indicate that MNPs may markedly impede soil aggregation ability, increase porosity, decrease soil bulk density, enhance water retention capacity, influence soil pH and electrical conductivity, and escalate soil water evaporation. Exposure to MNPs may predominantly induce changes in soil microbial composition, reducing the diversity and complexity of microbial communities and microbial activity while enhancing soil organic carbon stability, influencing soil nutrient dynamics, and stimulating organic carbon decomposition and denitrification processes, leading to elevated soil respiration and methane emissions, and potentially decreasing soil nitrous oxide emission. Additionally, MNPs may adversely affect soil fauna, diminish seed germination rates, promote plant root growth, yet impair plant photosynthetic efficacy and biomass productivity. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the impacts and mechanistic foundations of MNPs. Future research avenues are suggested to further explore the impacts and economic implications.