The effect of manure-borne doxycycline combined with different types of oversized microplastic contamination layers on carbon and nitrogen metabolism in sandy loam

Abstract

The different forms and properties of microplastics (MPs) have different effects on the elemental cycles in soil ecosystems, and this is further complicated when the soil contains antibiotics; meanwhile, oversized microplastic (OMP) in soil is always ignored in studies of environmental behavior. In the context of antibiotic action, the effects of OMP on soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling have rarely been explored. In this study, we created four types of oversized microplastic (thick fibers, thin fibers, large debris, and small debris) composite doxycycline (DOX) contamination layers (5–10 cm) in sandy loam, hoping to reveal the effects on soil C and N cycling and potential microbial mechanisms when exposed to the combination of manure-borne DOX and different types of OMP from the perspective of metagenomics in the longitudinal soil layer (0–30 cm). The results showed that all different forms of OMP, when combined with DOX, reduced the soil C content in each layer, but only reduced the soil N content in the upper layer of the OMP contamination layer. The microbial structure of the surface soil (0–10 cm) was more noteworthy than that of the deeper soil (10–30 cm). The genera Chryseolinea and Ohtaekwangia were key microbes involved in C and N cycling in the surface layer and regulated carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms (K00134), carbon fixation pathways in prokaryotes (K00031), methane metabolism (K11212 and K14941), assimilatory nitrate reduction (K00367), and denitrification (K00376 and K04561). The present study is the first to reveal the potential microbial mechanism of C and N cycling under OMP combined with DOX in different layers, mainly the OMP contamination layer and its upper layer, and the OMP shape plays an important role in this process.