Skip to content
Research Article Open access CC BY 4.0

Effects of Microplastics on Agriculture: A Mini-review

Kuok Ho Daniel Tang

Asian Journal of Environment & Ecology · pp. 1–9 · Published 8 Jun 2020

10.9734/ajee/2020/v13i130170

Abstract

Microplastics have permeated most, if not all, ecosystems including the terrestrial ones. The presence of microplastics in soil poses concerns on plants and agriculture. Microplastics alter soil biophysical properties including bulk density, water holding capacity and soil microbial interactions with water stable aggregates. The effects of microplastics on soil and plants frequently depend on the types and sizes of microplastics. This mini review presents a concise illustration of the impacts of microplastics on plants and crops. From the review, microplastics alter soil biophysical and chemical characteristics either positively or negatively depending on their types, concentrations, sizes and shapes. It reveals the ability of microplastics to affect enzymatic activities of plants which could lead to genotoxicity and oxidative damage. It unveils endocytosis of microplastics by specific plant cells as well as the uptake of microplastics via root and their accumulation and transport in plants facilitated by transpiration. This review also shows microplastics reduce root growth and seed germination at least transiently while do not seem to alter chlorophyll content. Microplastics were found to not interfere with phytoremediation of metals by the common reeds. This review highlights the need of more studies to confirm the effects of microplastics on crops and plants as the existing studies in this area are limited.

Microplastics agriculture soil plants crops

Cited by 49

Traversing the prevalence of microplastics in soil-agro ecosystems: Origin, occurrence, and pollutants synergies.

Kanika Dogra, Manish Kumar, K. D. Bahukhandi · Journal of Contaminant Hydrology · 2024

Removal of microplastics from agricultural runoff using biochar: a column feasibility study

Boluwatife S. Olubusoye, J. Cizdziel, Kendall Wontor · Frontiers in Environmental Science · 2024

Impact of microplastics on soil (physical and chemical) properties, soil biological properties/soil biota, and response of plants to it: a review

M. N. Hanif, N. Aijaz, K. Azam · International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology · 2024

Examining Soil Microplastics: Prevalence and Consequences Across Varied Land Use Contexts

M. A. Walenna, Z. A. Hanami, Rachmat Hidayat · Civil Engineering Journal · 2024

Leaching of chemicals from microplastics: A review of chemical types, leaching mechanisms and influencing factors.

Ya-Ge Li, Chen Liu, Hao-Tian Yang · Science of the Total Environment · 2023

Article metrics

Real usage data collected on this platform.

0

Page views

0

PDF downloads

0

Outbound clicks

49

Citations

Views by country

Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".

No views recorded yet.

Traffic sources

Referring site, by host.

No traffic recorded yet.

Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.