Summary
Agricultural environments are becoming increasingly contaminated with plastic pollution. Plastics in the environment can also provide a unique habitat for microbial biofilm, termed the 'plastisphere', which can also support the persistence of human pathogens such as Salmonella. Human enteric Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium can enter agricultural environments via flooding or from irrigation with contaminated water. Using soil mesocosms we quantified the ability of S. Typhimurium to persist on microplastic beads in two agriculturally relevant soils, under ambient and repeat flood scenarios. S. Typhimurium persisted in the plastisphere for 35 days in both podzol and loamy soils; while during multiple flood events was able to survive in the plastisphere for up to 21 days. S. Typhimuriu
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