Journal article

Publication year: 2016

Pages: 1690-1704

Journal: Journal of Soils and Sediments

Volume number: 16

Issue number: 6

ISSN: 1439-0108

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1370-0

Publisher: Springer

Abstract: 
To conceptualize the journey that veterinary antibiotics (VAs) follow between the animal stall and the field, two experiments were conducted. The VAs sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole and tetracycline were mixed into cow excrement; prepared with three dry solid content variations. Cow excrement containing the same VAs was mixed into sandy and clayey saturated soils. The aim was to quantify the solid-liquid partitioning and time-dependent behaviour of VAs at each stage of the journey, to enable mathematical replication of the process in the future.In each case, the mixtures were partitioned into their solid and liquid phases and the VA concentration in each was determined using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Sorption isotherms (K (d) values) and elimination constants (k (s): solid form, k (l): liquid form) were calculated after various incubation periods.Sulfamethoxazole exhibits fast elimination in excrement; environmental contamination is unlikely. Sulfadiazine and sulfamethazine behave similarly in excrement and soils; tetracycline is more sorptive. Small percentages of the sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine and tetracycline masses initially found in excrement may subsequently be transported to environmental compartments in liquid form. However, the majority of these VAs are speculated to accumulate in soil or be transported to surface water systems via soil erosion.The VA journey has been mathematically conceptualized for the first time and is supported by sorption isotherms and eliminations constants for four commonly detected VAs. Critical findings for sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine and tetracycline are the majority of an initial VA mass resides in excrement liquid; following incorporation into soil, the majority of the same initial VA mass resides in soil solid; VAs found in soil liquid are assumed to be eliminated within a few months; VAs found in soil solid are assumed to persist and accumulate; and VAs are most likely to be transported to surface water systems in solid form (via soil erosion). Due to its rapid elimination in excrement, sulfamethoxazole that stems from veterinary medicine is not assumed to be a major environmental contaminant.

Harvard Citation style: Bailey, C., Spielmeyer, A., Hamscher, G., Schüttrumpf, H. and Frings, R. (2016) The veterinary antibiotic journey: comparing the behaviour of sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole and tetracycline in cow excrement and two soils, Journal of Soils and Sediments, 16(6), pp. 1690-1704. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1370-0

APA Citation style: Bailey, C., Spielmeyer, A., Hamscher, G., Schüttrumpf, H., & Frings, R. (2016). The veterinary antibiotic journey: comparing the behaviour of sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole and tetracycline in cow excrement and two soils. Journal of Soils and Sediments. 16(6), 1690-1704. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1370-0