Autor:innen:
Kai Nils Nitzsche | Technische Universität Darmstadt, Institut für Angewandte Geowissenschaften | Germany
Moritz Bigalke | Technische Universität Darmstadt, Institut für Angewandte Geowissenschaften | Germany
Andreas Fliessbach | Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau (FiBL) | Switzerland
Bernhard Stehle | Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau (FiBL) | Switzerland
Dominika Kundel | Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau (FiBL) | Switzerland
Tire wear is considered the most dominant microplastic (MP) source into the environment. After entering the soil-plant system, MPs from tire wear can alter the physico-chemical properties of the soil. Furthermore, vulcanization agents (S and ZnO) and other additives can leach into the soil and be taken up by plants. The goal of this study was to test whether tire wear pollution altered the nutrient and heavy metal uptake of crops, thereby potentially affecting plant growth. Leek (Allium porrum var. Fantic), maize (Zea mays) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. Till) were cultivated in a pot experiment using a neutral, loamy sand with no tire wear application (control pots) and with tire wear concentrations of 3 % (polluted pots), respectively. Maize and lettuce were kept for 7 weeks, leek for 11 weeks. After harvest, C, N, S as well as other macronutrients (Ca, Na, Mg, K, P) and heavy metals were determined in the shoot biomass. We expect the biomass from the tire wear polluted pots to have higher S and Zn concentrations, and lower concentrations of macronutrients as a consequence of Zn toxicity. Overall, our results will have implications for the crop selection close to streets, i.e., whether certain crops could be more resistant to tire wear pollution.