Cadmium (Cd) pollution in soil poses a grave threat to human health. Combining various approaches to reduce Cd accumulation in crops is an active area of research to remediate farmlands with medium-high levels of Cd contamination. The Mercaptofunctionalized palygorskite (PGS-SH) and zinc (Zn) application alone or in combination were investigated to explore the reduction of Cd uptake by B. chinensis L and transformation of Cd in soil. The sole application of Zn or PGS-SH increased the biomass of B. chinensis L. and decreased the concentration of Cd in plants, but more improvements were observed from the combined application of Zn and PGS-SH.Low concentration of exogenous Zn (50 mg Á kg -1 ) significantly increased the soil respiration rate (SRR) and the soil dehydrogenase activity (sDHA), while promoted B. chinensis L. growth while inhibiting Cd uptake. However, excessive exogenous Zn (≥ 200 mg Á kg -1 ) significantly inhibited B. chinensis L. growth and soil microbial activity. The combined application of PGS-SH and Zn had the highest sDHA (145.59%) and lowest transport factor (TF) (27.59%) compared with the CK. The combination of PGS-SH and Zn fertilizer is a safe and effective means to reduce the accumulation of Cd in plants and restore microbial activity.

Microplastics (MPS), as an emerging environmental pollutant, refers to plastic particles with length or width less than 5mm. Due to the small particle size, stable properties and difficult degradation, they are widely present in various environmental media. Plastic pollution has become one of the major threats to the function of the earth system. The greatest attention to date has been on their potential effect in marine ecosystems. However, a growing number of studies are examining their potential impact on soil ecosystems. In this paper, worldwide research progress on the separation, extraction, identification and ecological impacts of MPs in soil is reviewed. Finally, the development direction of future research on the microplastics is suggested. At present, the separation methods of microplastics in soil mainly include screening method, density separation, foam flotation, etc. The common strategy is to first identify obvious/possible microplastics with a microscope and then confirm by spectroscopy and thermodynamic methods such as Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) or Raman spectroscopies. These methods have some shortcomings, such as time consuming and destroying the structure of microplastics. Appropriate combination and improvement of these methods are expected to make up the deficiency. The ecological impact of microplastics is mainly reflected in the growth, development and reproduction of animals. Furthermore, the presence of microplastics will cause changes in soil physical and chemical parameters, which will change vegetative stage, plant photosynthesis and oxidative stress. In addition, nanoscale microplastics can get across plant's membranes and cell wall barriers and enriched by plants, and poses an additional risk to humans via trophic food chain transfer. The prospects for future research include (1) standardized analytical methods; (2) dose-responds relationship of microplastics in soil; (3) the ecological of combination and interaction of microplastics with contaminants.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution in soil pose a grave threat to human health. Combining various approaches to reduce Cd accumulation in crops is an active area of research to remediate farmlands with medium-high levels of Cd contamination. The Mercapto-functionalized palygorskite (PGS-SH) and zinc (Zn) application alone or in combination was investigated to explore reduction of Cd uptake in B. chinensis L and transformation of Cd in soil. The sole application of Zn or PGS-SH increased the biomass of B. chinensis L. and decreased the concentration of Cd in plants, but more improvements were observed from the combined application of Zn and PGS-SH. Low concentration of exogenous Zn (50 mg/kg) significantly increased the soil respiration rate (SRR) and the soil dehydrogenase activity (sDHA), while promoted B. chinensis L. growth while inhibiting Cd uptake. However, excessive exogenous Zn (≥ 200 mg/kg) significantly inhibited B. chinensis L. growth and soil microbial activity. The combined application of PGS-SH and Zn had the highest sDHA (145.59%) and lowest transport factor (TF) (27.59%) compared with the CK. The combination of PGS-SH and Zn fertilizer is a safe and effective means for remediating Cd-contaminated soil and restoring microbial activity.