Azole Antifungal Contaminants Disrupt Mycorrhizal Function and Risk Agricultural Sustainability
The sustainability of future food production is increasingly threatened by soildegradation, climate change, and rising synthetic fertilizer costs. Circular agriculture, whichpromotes waste reduction and resource reuse, offers a potential solution. However,integrating treated wastewater and biosolids into these systems introduces risks fromemerging contaminants, including pharmaceuticals, with unknown consequences for soilhealth and function. We examined the impacts of commonly detected azole antifungalcontaminants on arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, critical biotic components of healthy andfunctional soils, in lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and spring onion (Allium fistulosum). Our resultsshow antifungal exposure, at levels typically detected in agricultural soils, significantly impairAM function, reducing AM-mediated phosphorus (P) acquisition of plants. In spring onion,fungal diversity declined significantly, with a similar trend in lettuce. Our findings underscorethe need to mitigate inadvertent pharmaceutical contamination in agricultural systems andfor further research into the impacts of unintended contaminants on soil microbiomes.