Effects of Microplastic on Rice Seed Germination Mitigated by Brassinolide

There have been reports confirming the presence of microplastic pollution in rice fields, which have potential negative effects on rice cultivation. In this article, the growth characteristics and oxidative stress levels of rice seeds were analyzed in the presence of polystyrene microplastics with different particle sizes (50 μm, 50 nm) and concentrations (0-1500 mg/L), as well as their co-exposure to 2,4-epibrassinolide. The micro-particles had no significant effect on the growth of rice seeds, however, the nano-plastic had an inhibitory effect on the growth of rice seed and the effect was the strongest at high concentration. The addition of brassinolide alleviated the inhibitory effect of the nano-plastics on rice seed. The oxidative stress level results indicated that the addition of brassinolide weakened the oxidation induction effects of microplastics, improved the antioxidant capacity of rice seeds under microplastics stress.