Sulfonamides Leach from Sandy Loam Soils Under Common Agricultural Practice

Abstract

Sulfonamide antibiotics can enter agricultural soils by fertilisation with contaminated manure. While only rough estimations on the extent of such applications exist, this pathway results in trace level contamination of groundwater. Therefore, we studied the transport of three sulfonamides in leachates from field lysimeters after application of a sulfonamide-contaminated liquid manure. In a 3-year period, the sulfonamides were determined in 64% to 70% of all leachate samples at concentrations between 0.08 to 56.7 µg L −1 . Furthermore, sulfonamides were determined in leachates up to 23 months after application, which indicated a mediumto long-term leaching risk. Extreme dry weather conditions resulted in highest dislocated amounts of sulfonamides in two of the three treatments. Furthermore, soil management such as tillage and cropping affected the time between application and breakthrough of sulfonamides and the intra-annual distribution of sulfonamide loads in leachates. Although the total sulfonamide leaching loads were low, the concentrations exceeded the limit value of the European Commission of 0.1 µg biocide L −1 in drinking water in more than 50% of all samples. Furthermore, the medium-term mean concentration of the sulfonamides ranged from 0.08 and 4.00 µg L −1 , which was above the limit value of the European Commission in 91 out of 158 samples. Therefore, sulfonamides applied to soils in liquid manure under common agricultural practice may cause environmental and health risks which call for a setting up of more long-term studies on the fate of antibiotics.

The incidence of antibiotic resistance within and beyond the agricultural ecosystem: A concern for public health

“…Leaching is the vertical percolation of materials into the groundwater that preferentially occurs in a particular flow path and plays more of a role with antibiotics that are hydrophilic and/or not tightly sorbed to the soil particles (Jechalke et al, 2014). Therefore, antibiotics that are hydrophobic and/or interacting strongly with the soil particles may not leach beyond the surface soil (Aust et al, 2010;Ostermann et al, 2013). Hamscher, Abu-Quare, Sczesny, Höper, and Nau (2000) discovered that 9.5 μg/kg chlortetracycline was recovered in 10-cm topsoil samples received from farms after the second day of animal slurry application and a decreased concentration of about 0.7 μg/kg in soil samples collected at a depth below 80 cm.…”

Fate of the antibiotic sulfadiazine in natural soils: Experimental and numerical investigations

“…Wehrhan et al (2007) observed that kinetic sorption was the most relevant process for the removal of SDZ at the laboratory scale. Within a larger scale of lysimeter studies, Aust et al (2010) observed an increased leaching potential of sulfonamides after their application with manure. However, Aust et al (2010) did not investigate the transformation processes of SDZ, nor did they use numerical models to analyze or predict the long-term and large-scale fate of sulfonamides.…”

“…Within a larger scale of lysimeter studies, Aust et al (2010) observed an increased leaching potential of sulfonamides after their application with manure. However, Aust et al (2010) did not investigate the transformation processes of SDZ, nor did they use numerical models to analyze or predict the long-term and large-scale fate of sulfonamides. Currently, long-term and largescale field studies that investigate the leaching potential and biodegradation of sulfonamides, such as SDZ, using undisturbed natural soils and under variable hydrological conditions, are still not available.…”

Assessing the sorption and leaching behaviour of three sulfonamides in pasture soils through batch and column studies

“…Leachate 0.78 μg L −1 Blackwell et al (2007) Leachate 95-97% Unold et al (2009) Leachate 0.08 to 56.7 μg L −1Aust et al (2010) …”