Occurrence of Microplastics and Heavy Metals in Aquatic and Agroecosystem: A Case Study

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology 2022-08, Vol.109 (2), p.266-271
• Main Authors: Ahmad, Tanveer, Amjad, Muhammad, Iqbal, Qumer, Batool, Asmat, Noor, Anam, Jafir, Muhammad, Hussain, Hammad, Irfan, Muhammad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural ecosystems; Agricultural land; Agriculture; Aquatic Pollution; Case studies; Chromium; Crops; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Heavy metal content; Heavy metals; Horticulture; Impaired water use; Irrigation; Microplastics; Plastic pollution; Pollutants; Pollution; Soil Science & Conservation; Soils; Toxicology; Transfer factor; Variance analysis; Vegetables; Waste Water Technology; Wastewater; Water Management; Water Pollution Control
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-022-03523-5

A case study was conducted to evaluate the microplastics and heavy metals distribution in Pakistani farmland. Wastewater, soil, and vegetable samples were collected from four locations that received raw effluents for irrigation in the Faisalabad district. The average MPs abundances found in soil was 2790.75 items/kg, FSD-S has higher MPs (3865 items/kg) which is almost 34.62% from the total. However, the highest metal pollution (3.666 mg/kg) was recorded in the FSD-E zone, Cr showed the highest transfer factor about 34.24% in FSD-N in comparison with other sites. This research establishes a benchmark for estimating the environmental harm posed by microplastics and heavy metals in this rapidly emerging field of study.