Phosphorus mitigates the adverse effects of microplastics pollution on wheat and maize: Impacts on growth, photosynthesis, and antioxidant defense

Microplastics (MP) pollution in agricultural soils has become an important environmental problem. Phosphorus (P) is a key nutrient for plant growth. P fertilizers are mainly applied to agricultural fields to achieve the high production expected by farmers. The experiment included two MP levels (0, 1 % w/w) and two P levels (0 mg kg−1, 200 mg kg−1) in order to know whether MP effects on wheat and maize are regulated by supplemental P supply. MP decreased plant height, photosynthetic pigment, and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, while increased ROS and MDA contents. Wheat and maize exhibited distinct strategies in mitigating growth damage caused by MP pollution: wheat primarily increased the AsA contents, while maize predominantly enhanced APX activity. P supply alleviated the MP pollution effect by improving photosynthetic pigments, POD, and PPO activity in wheat and maize. P supply alleviated the MP pollution effect by improving antioxidant enzyme activities in the AsA-GSH cycling in wheat, while increasing non-enzymatic antioxidant contents in the AsA-GSH cycling in maize. The results showed that wheat and maize resisted MP pollution by different mechanisms, and P supply reduced the sensitivity of wheat and maize to MP pollution and its regulatory effect on wheat was better than that on maize. The response of different plants under the same microplastic and phosphorus conditions is limited. We find phosphorus alleviates microplastics pollution on wheat and maize through different regulatory routes. [Display omitted] •Microplastics limit growth of wheat and maize by increasing active oxygen content.•Wheat resists microplastics stress by increasing non-enzymatic antioxidant content.•Maize resists microplastics stress by increasing activity of antioxidant enzymes.•Phosphorus supply eased inhibitory effect of microplastics on maize and wheat growth.