Environmental risk of microplastics after field aging: Reduced rice yield without mitigating yield-scale ammonia volatilization from paddy soils

Microplastics (MPs, <5 mm) are enriched in paddy ecosystems as emerging environmental pollutants. Biochar (BC) is a controversial recalcitrant carbon product that poses potential environmental risks. The presence of these two exogenous organic substances has been demonstrated to have impacts on soil nitrogen cycling and crop production. However, the after-effects of MPs and BC on soil ammonia (NH3) volatilization and rice yield after field aging remain unexplored. In this study, two common MPs, including polyethylene (PE) and poly-acrylonitrile (PAN), and BC were selected for rice growing season observations to study the impacts on soil NH3 volatilization and rice yield after field aging. The results showed that the reduction of cumulative soil NH3 losses by MPs was around 45% after one-year field aging, which was within the range of 40-57% in the previous rice season. Abatement of NH3 volatilization by MPs mainly occurred in basal fertilization and was related to floodwater pH. Besides, the reduction rate of NH3 volatilization by BC and MPs + BC was enhanced after field aging (63% and 50-57%) compared to that in the previous rice season (5% and 11-19%), with the abatement process occurring in the first supplementary fertilization. There was a significant positive correlation between cumulative NH3 volatilization and soil urease activity. Notably, field aging removed the positive effect of MPs and MPs + BC in reducing yield-scale NH3 losses in the previous rice season (similar to 62%). Furthermore, despite BC affecting rice yield insignificantly after field aging, the presence of MPs led to a significant 17-19% reduction in rice yield. Our findings reveal that differences in the after-effects of BC and MPs in field aging emerge, where the negative impacts of MPs on soil NH3 abatement and crop yield are progressively becoming apparent and should be taken into serious consideration.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effects of microplastics (MPs) and biochar on soil ammonia volatilization and rice yield. The results showed that MPs can reduce soil ammonia volatilization, especially after field aging. However, MPs led to a significant reduction in rice yield. These findings indicate that the negative impacts of MPs on soil and crop are becoming increasingly apparent.