Occurrence of trace elements and antibiotics in manure- based fertilizers from the Zhejiang Province of China

The occurrence of seven trace elements and forty three antibiotics was investigated in manure-based fertilizers from the Zhejiang province of China. These trace elements included copper, zinc, arsenic, chromium, mercury, lead and cadmium. The targeted antibiotics included four groups: sulfonamides, tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones and chloramphenicols. The median amounts of copper, zinc, arsenic, chromium, mercury, lead and cadmium in the analyzed samples were 160, 465, 7.9, 21.2, 0.3, 8.1 and 0.6 mg . kg(-1), respectively. Seventeen antibiotics were detected. Enrofloxacinwas the most frequently detected compound, with a detection rate of 39.3% and concentrations ranging from 6.7 mu g . kg(-1) to 4091 mu g . kg(-1). Based on the referred loading rates in agricultural soil, 10% of the collectedmanure-based fertilizer samples might pose a high potential ecological risk due to the presence of antibiotics. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.