Antibiotics impact plant traits, even at small concentrations

Abstract

Antibiotics used in livestock industry are released to agricultural fields via grazing animals and manure. From there, they may affect human health due to consumption of antibiotic-exposed crop plants or drinking water. Also they may affect performance of natural occurring non-target species. Our study shows that antibiotics, even in small concentrations, significantly affect plant traits. Cropland species showed delayed germination and lower biomass allocation, indicating possible yield-effects in farmland fertilized with manure containing antibiotics. Antibiotics may also alter the composition of plant species in natural field margins, due to different species-specific responses, with unknown consequences for higher trophic levels.

Antibiotic‐induced effects on scaling relationships and on plant element contents in herbs and grasses

“…Some element contents were lower in the antibiotic than in the control treatments, while the reverse was found for other elements. In general, plant element contents were most responsive to penicillin, followed by sulfadiazine and tetracycline, which was also found for other traits in the same four species and experimental setup (i.e., biomass allocation, growth rates, chlorophyll content and others, see Minden et al, 2017).…”

“…Moreover, responses to antibiotics differed between plant species: element contents in the two herb species B. napus and C. bursa-pastoris were mostly reduced by antibiotics, whereas contents were increased in the two grass species T. aestivum and A. spica-venti. Species-specific results have been shown by other studies on antibiotic-induced responses, for example, on germination Minden et al, 2017), postgerminative development (Migliore et al, 1997), root elongation (Pan & Chu, 2016), root and shoot lengths (Hillis et al, 2011), or bioaccumulation (Migliore, Brambilla, Cozzolino, & Gaudio, 1995).…”

“…Antibiotics in the environment have been recognized as a serious threat to nontarget organisms as well as the entire ecosystem, and have been grouped, together with other pharmaceuticals and personal-care products, in a new group of chemicals termed "contaminants of emerging concern" (Bartrons & Peñuelas, 2017;Hyland, Blaine, Dickenson, & Higgins, 2015). Once released into the environment, they possibly impact on the development of multi-resistant bacteria, with detrimental effects on human health as well as on the performance of naturally occurring nontarget species (Bártíkova et al, 2016;Jechalke, Heuer, Siemens, Amelung, & Smalla, 2014;Kumar, Lee, & Cho, 2012;Minden, Deloy, Volkert, Leonhardt, & Pufal, 2017). In plants, antibiotics can, among other effects, delay germination, reduce chlorophyll content and growth, and affect bioaccumulation (see summarizing tables in Bártíkova et al, 2016;Carvalho, Basto, Almeida, & Brix, 2014;Minden et al, 2017;Puckowski et al, 2016).…”

“…Once released into the environment, they possibly impact on the development of multi-resistant bacteria, with detrimental effects on human health as well as on the performance of naturally occurring nontarget species (Bártíkova et al, 2016;Jechalke, Heuer, Siemens, Amelung, & Smalla, 2014;Kumar, Lee, & Cho, 2012;Minden, Deloy, Volkert, Leonhardt, & Pufal, 2017). In plants, antibiotics can, among other effects, delay germination, reduce chlorophyll content and growth, and affect bioaccumulation (see summarizing tables in Bártíkova et al, 2016;Carvalho, Basto, Almeida, & Brix, 2014;Minden et al, 2017;Puckowski et al, 2016). It is notable that the effects of antibiotics on element contents of plants have received much less attention.…”

“…We tested how three different antibiotics (i.e., penicillin, tetracycline, and sulfadiazine) differing in their action modes affected element contents of four plant species, including crop (Brassica napus and Triticum aestivum) and noncrop (Capsella bursa-pastoris and Apera spica-venti) species. A previous study on antibiotic-effects on the performance of these plant species revealed significant effects on chlorophyll content, growth rates, and biomass allocation on the target organisms (Minden et al, 2017). Both crop species (B. napus and T. aestivum) belong to the most commonly grown crops worldwide (FAO, 2016;Leff, Ramankutty, & Foley, 2004) and are thus highly likely exposed to antibiotics due to fertilization of crop fields with slurry or manure.…”