Antibiotic Losses in Leaching and Surface Runoff from Manure‐Amended Agricultural Land

Abstract

A 3-yr field study quantified leaching and runoff losses of antibiotics from land application of liquid hog (chlortetracycline and tylosin) and solid beef (chlortetracycline, monensin, and tylosin) manures under chisel plowing and no-tillage systems. The study was conducted in southwestern Wisconsin, a karst area with steep, shallow, macroporous soils. Relative mass losses of chlortetracycline, monensin, and tylosin were <5% of the total amount applied with manure. Chlortetracycline was only detected in runoff, whereas monensin and tylosin were detected in leachate and runoff. Highest concentrations of monensin and tylosin in the leachate were 40.9 and 1.2 microg L(-1), respectively. Highest chlortetracycline, monensin, and tylosin concentrations in runoff were 0.5, 57.5, and 6.0 microg L(-1), respectively. For all three antibiotics, >90% of detections and 99% of losses occurred during the non-growing season due to fall manure application and slow degradation of antibiotics at cold temperatures. During years of high snowmelt, runoff accounted for nearly 100% of antibiotic losses, whereas during years of minimal snowmelt, runoff accounted for approximately 40% of antibiotic losses. Antibiotic losses were generally higher from the no-tillage compared with chisel plow treatment due to greater water percolation as a result of macroporosity and greater runoff due to lack of surface roughness in the no-tillage plots during the non-growing season. The results from this study suggest that small quantities of dissolved antibiotics could potentially reach surface and ground waters in the Upper Midwestern USA from manure-amended shallow macroporous soils underlain with fractured bedrock.

Occurrence of Tylosin-Resistant Enterococci in Swine Manure and Tile Drainage Systems under No-Till Management

“…Only a fraction of antibiotics fed to swine are metabolized by them, the nonmetabolized antibiotics or residues may remain unchanged through the animal digestion system and they are excreted in animal waste (Gustafson and Bowen, 1997;Onan and LaPara, 2003). Up to 90% of fed antibiotics have been found to be released with urine and feces (Chander et al, 2006;Dolliver and Gupta, 2008). Table 1 lists all antimicrobial agents used in swine feeds.…”

“…Previous researches have determined that tylosin can enter the environment in significant concentrations and land-applied tylosin in manure can sorb to the soil or move to surface and groundwater (Allaire et al, 2006;Clay et al, 2005;Dolliver and Gupta, 2008;Kolpin et al, 2002;Kolz et al, 2005;Loke et al, 2002). Tylosin has high potential to transport with sediment during runoff events due to its sorption characteristics to manure and soil particles (Davis et al, 2006;Loke et al, 2002).…”

Fate and transport of tylosin-resistant bacteria and macrolide resistance genes in artificially drained agricultural fields receiving swine manure

“…Prior studies have identified elevated levels of antibiotics, antibioticresistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes in ground and surface water surrounding confined animal feeding operations (Campagnolo et al, 2002;Chee-Sanford et al, 2009;Heuer et al, 2011). The potential for antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic-resistance genes leaching into the environment is becoming of greater concern, with approximately 9.2 million hectares of farmland receiving manure annually (Dolliver and Gupta, 2007).…”

Excretion masses and environmental occurrence of antibiotics in typical swine and dairy cattle farms in China

“…In Chinese livestock farms, most of wastewater and manure are directly or indirectly discharged into surface water or applied onto agricultural land, resulting in the contamination of antibiotics in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Antibiotics associated with livestock manure and wastewater application onto land can also enter surface water via run off, or leach into groundwater (Davis et al, 2006;Dolliver and Gupta, 2008). So far, antibiotic residues have been reported in the surrounding environments of animal farms, with the concentrations from not detected to 2683 μg/kg in soil (Hu et al, 2010;Li et al, 2011), from 2 ng/L to 6800 ng/L in surface water (Christian et al, 2003;Matsui et al, 2008), and from 1.4 to 1400 ng/L in groundwater (Batt et al, 2006;Campagnolo et al, 2002).…”