Journal
WATER AIR AND SOIL POLLUTION
Volume 211, Issue 1-4, Pages 143-156Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s11270-009-0288-1
Keywords
Veterinary antibiotics; Soil; Transport; Groundwater contamination; Management effects
Funding
- German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) [20003/498]
- German Research Foundation (DFG) [Th 678/6-2]
- Ministerium fur Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania [UR 07 079]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
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 mu g L(-1). Furthermore, sulfonamides were determined in leachates up to 23 months after application, which indicated a medium-to 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 mu g 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 mu g 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.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available