Change in bacterial community of soil under bioplastic addition and maize cropping

There is increasing recognition that microplastic contamination may pose a threat to agroecosystem functioning. This has prompted the move away from the use of conventional oil-based plastics in agriculture to biobased alternatives that are degraded over a shorter timescale. The ecological impact of these bioplastics on plant and soil health, however, has received little attention. Here, we investigated the impact of soil loading (0.01%, 0.1%, 1% and 10%) of the biobased poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV) microplastic on soil microbial community structure. Analysis of the soil at the end of the experiment using 14C-isotope tracing and 16S metabarcoding revealed that PHBV supressed microbial activity, reduced bacterial diversity and shifted microbial community structure in a concentration dependent way.