Conventional and biodegradable microplastics elicit contrasting taxon-level responses in rhizosphere microbiomes of maize and strawberry.
Jung A, Bartnick R, Thomas DC, Lehndorff E, Lueders T
Soil Health
Plastic mulch film and garden plastic debris breaking down in your vegetable beds is quietly reshaping the microbial ecosystem around your plants' roots — the same ecosystem that controls how well your crops absorb nitrogen and stay healthy.
Scientists grew corn and strawberries in soil spiked with tiny plastic particles — the kind that shed from plastic mulch films and packaging — to see what happened to the microscopic life living around the roots. They found that 'biodegradable' plastics encouraged a specific group of bacteria that may actually break down the plastic, while ordinary plastics caused more chaotic, widespread changes to the soil community. Strawberry plants actually grew bigger in plastic-contaminated soil, but pulled more nitrogen out of the ground in the process, hinting at a hidden cost to soil fertility.
Key Findings
Strawberry plants increased biomass across all microplastic treatments but depleted significantly more soil nitrate, suggesting a hidden fertility cost despite apparent growth benefits.
Biodegradable PBAT plastic specifically stimulated potential plastic-degrading bacteria (Cupriavidus spp. and Saccharimonadales) regardless of plant species, indicating a targeted microbial selection effect.
Microplastic-driven changes were more pronounced in metabolically active microbial communities (rRNA-derived) than in total community profiles (DNA-derived), meaning living, active soil microbes bear the strongest impact.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Tiny plastic particles breaking down in agricultural soil affect the microscopic communities around plant roots differently depending on whether the plastic is conventional or biodegradable — and the crop species growing there shapes that response too. Biodegradable plastic triggered a targeted microbial response, while conventional plastics caused broader, less selective shifts across more soil microbes.
Abstract Preview
Microplastics (MP) are relevant contaminants in agroecosystems, influencing soil nutrient dynamics and soil-plant-microbial interactions. As agriculture shifts from conventional to biodegradable pl...
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Maize, also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. The leafy stalk of the plant gives rise to male inflorescences or tassels which produce pollen, and female inflorescences called ears. The ears yield grain, known as kernels or seeds. In modern ...