Oxytetracycline as environmental contaminant in arable lands

Abstract

Oxytetracycline (OXY) is a broad-range antimicrobial routinely used in pig production, at doses in the range of few g/kg of medicated feed, during the weaning period. It could persist at ppm level in pig liquid manure that routinely is used for organic fertilisation. In the present work we describe a methodology to study OXY environmental fate in arable land where crops are cultivated for animal feeding purposes. A liquid-liquid extraction followed by metal chelate affinity chromatography was applied to environmental samples of manures and soils drawn within a case-control study. Extracts were then analysed by high performance liquid chromatography with UV/DAD detection, using a reverse phase column, and expressing the results as 4-epioxytetracycline epimer. Results indicate OXY is well retained at mg kg −1 levels in soil exposed to contaminated pig manure fertilisation. Such compartment could constitute an abiotic reservoir for the systemic and/or for the external contamination of corn.

Fate of tetracyclines in swine manure of three selected swine farms in China

“…TC detected in pig manure samples in Austria was in the range of 0.36-23 mg/kg and was much higher than this study (Martínez-Carballo et al, 2007). The main degradation products of TCs detected in swine manure were their epimers ETC, ECTC and EOTC, which is in agreement with the reported literature that TCs can be excreted in the form of their 4-epimers (Brambilla et al, 2007). Especially for ETC, the concentration was nearly as much as that of TC.…”

Antibiotic resistance gene abundances associated with antibiotics and heavy metals in animal manures and agricultural soils adjacent to feedlots in Shanghai; China

“…Overall, the concentrations of tetracycline residues were significantly higher than sulfonamides; differences in usage and chemical properties might be a major reason for this observation [4]. The concentrations of tetracyclines, sulfonamides and chloramphenicol were equivalent with the previous result from different regions [2,31,[33][34][35]. Additionally, a much higher concentration of antibiotics were found in manure samples relative to soils.…”

Low Doses of Tetracycline Trigger the E. coli Growth: A Case of Hormetic Response

“…It is frequently found in both terrestrial and aquatic environmental compartments at very low concentrations, in the order of magnitude of ppb (Boxall et al 2002Boxall 2004;Sarmah et al 2006;Brambilla et al 2007;Migliore et al 2007Migliore et al , 2010aWu et al 2013).…”