Effects of microplastics on crop nutrition in fertile soils and interaction with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment published by Global Initiative of Crop Microbiome and Sustainable Agriculture and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

[Introduction] Soil microplastic (MP) pollution has emerged as a main factor of global change, but its effects on soil nutrient availability and uptake by crops (macro and micronutrients) are largely unknown. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are regulators of nutrient availability and uptake and can interact with soil MP.

[Materials and Methods] Building on previous studies, here we explored in a 50-days pot experiment the influence and interaction of MP fibres (0.4%) and commercial AMF in soil and onion chemistry, that is, in elemental composition of onion shoots and soils (C, N, Ca, Mg, K, P, S, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn) and micronutrient soil availability (Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn).

[Results] MP had detrimental effects on K, Mg and S, but increased the soil availability of Zn and shoot uptake. AMF inoculation buffered the effects of MP by balancing/enhancing nutrient availability and plant uptake. Particularly, the commercial AMF inoculum remarkably enhanced Mn uptake by onion.

[Conclusion] Our results support the use of AMF to sustainably manage agricultural ecosystems contaminated with MP, buffering and counteracting the effects of MP by balancing nutrient availability and plant uptake.

E. M. J. thanks the COST Action CA 19116 Trace metal metabolism in plants through the STSM 47608 and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Fellowship for Experienced Researchers), for supporting his research stay in Germany. This study was funded by a Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators of the BBVA Foundation. M. C. R. acknowledges an ERC Advanced Grant (694368). Authors acknowledge support by the Open Access Publication Initiative of Freie Universität Berlin. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

Peer reviewed