Biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics affect nutrient cycling during the entire crop growth cycle: Implications for soil ecosystem multifunctionality.

Biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics significantly reduce soil ecosystem multifunctionality by up to 27% during maize growth, mainly through impacts on bacterial diversity and nutrient cycling.

• Why it matters: Understanding how biodegradable microplastics influence soil health is crucial for assessing their safety and sustainability in agricultural systems, as their effects across the entire crop cycle are poorly known.
• What they did: The study used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and metagenomic analysis to examine the effects of PLA microplastics on soil microbiomes and nutrient functions over 120 days in maize cultivation, testing different concentrations.
• The result: PLA microplastics altered soil nutrient cycling—enhancing carbon functions by up to 569% but reducing nitrogen and phosphorus functions—and decreased overall ecosystem multifunctionality, primarily driven by declines in bacterial diversity.