Influence of Microplastics on Seedling Growth of Blackgram under Different Soil Types

The prevalence of microplastics in soil has recently attracted substantial interest as they pose a major threat to agricultural system. A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of polyethylene microplastics (PE-MPs) on seedling development of blackgram (Vigna mungo L.) in two different types of soil during April, 2022 under controlled conditions in the Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India. The treatments included four different concentrations of PE-MPs (0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00%) along with a control which had no microplastics. All the treatments were replicated thrice. In loamy soil type, germination rate declined from 87.1±0.57 (control) to 73.1±0.33 (1.00% PE-MPs) and in clay loam soil, from 83.3±3.08 (control) to 79.8±0.03 (1.00% PE-MPs). Similarly root and shoot characteristics also showed distinct reduction along with increasing microplastics concentrations. Hence, the results of the study reveal that soil type has influence over the magnitude of variations in blackgram growth parameters in the presence of polyethylene microplastics.