Macroplastics on Soil-Plant System: Inhibiting Effects of Macroplastics on the Growth of Green Amaranth (<i>Amaranthus viridis</i>)

Abstract

In recent time Bangladesh faces a serious problem of soil pollution due to plastic contamination. However, the degree of the extent to which the effects of plastics on plant growth occur is not properly identified. An experiment was conducted to measure the effects of mixed plastic (polyethylene and disposable plastic glass) on the growth of Amaranthus viridis. Different doses of mixed plastics (T0, T1, T2, and T3) were applied with a fixed amount of soil for each of the treatments e.g., T0 (control), T1 (10 gm mixed plastics/3kg soil), T2 (15 gm mixed plastics/3kg soil) and T3 (20 gm mixed plastic/3kg soil), and the growth response of Amaranthus viridis against plastic was observed for six consecutive weeks. The growth was measured in terms of plant height and girth diameter. The results showed that the presence of mixed plastic had a significant effect on the growth of Amaranthus viridis and particularly in treatment T3 (3 kg soil/20gm mixed plastic), the plants showed a slower growth response compared to control and the rest of the treatments applied in case of both plant height as well as girth diameter. The statistical analysis (one-way Analysis of Variance) also proved the significance of the treatments (p-values < 0.05) for six consecutive weeks. The experiment was successfully able to set an index on which plastics had their effects on the growth of green amaranth. In addition, the obtained data will be helpful in future research of the study in determining the possible effects of plastic on plant growth viz. green amaranth.