Effect of plastic microbeads on the development of roho (Labeo rohita)

Microplastics are an emerging pollutant of marine environments, affecting fish and other marine biota such as copepods and rotifers. The current study assesses the impact of plastic microbeads on the growth of roho (Labeo rohita) in a 4-month feeding experiment under laboratory conditions. Over a period of 120 days, roho fingerlings were exposed to different concentrations of plastic microbeads (50 mg to 200 mg/kg of feed) mixed into their feed. It was found that the ingestion of plastic microbeads negatively affected the growth of roho and that the concentration of the plastic microbeads directly influenced the growth rate of the fish.