Combined contamination of microplastic and antibiotic alters the composition of microbial community and metabolism in wheat and maize rhizosphere soil

The widespread application of antibiotics and plastic films in agriculture has led to new characteristics of soil pollution. The impacts of combined contamination of microplastics and antibiotics on plant growth and rhizosphere soil bacterial community and metabolisms are still unclear. We conducted a pot experiment to investigate the effects of polyethylene (0.2%) and norfloxacin/doxycycline (5 mg kg–1), as well as the combination of polyethylene and antibiotics, on the growth, rhizosphere soil bacterial community and metabolisms of wheat and maize seedlings. The results showed that combined contamination caused more serious damage to plant growth than individual contamination, and aggravated root oxidative stress responses. The diversity and structure of soil bacterial community were not markedly altered, but the composition of the bacterial community, soil metabolisms and metabolic pathways were altered. The co-occurrence network analysis indicated that combined contamination may inhibit the growth of wheat and maize seedings by simplifying the interrelationships between soil bacteria and metabolites, and altering the relative abundance of specific bacteria genera (e.g. Kosakonia and Sphingomonas) and soil metabolites (including sugars, organic acids and amino acids). The results help to elucidate the potential mechanisms of phytotoxicity of the combination of microplastic and antibiotics.