TY - JOUR
T1 - Uptake of antibiotics and their toxicity to lettuce following routine irrigation with contaminated water in different soil types
AU - Sallach, Jonathan Brett
AU - Bartelt-Hunt, Shannon L.
AU - Snow, Daniel D.
AU - Li, Xu
AU - Hodges, Laurie
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors recognize the contribution of Emily Hoehn and Lindsey Knight for assistance with sample processing, and separation chemist Dave Cassada for analytical assistance. This work was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture NIFA program (project No. 2011-67019-20052).
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2018, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2018.
PY - 2018/8
Y1 - 2018/8
N2 - To address the issue of global freshwater shortages, wastewater has become an increasingly valuable alternative for crop irrigation. As a result, trace levels of emerging contaminants, including antibiotics, may occur in water used for food production. The objective of this study was to investigate how soil texture affected the availability and uptake of three chemically diverse antibiotics (lincomycin, oxytetracycline, and sulfamethoxazole) by lettuce grown in soils comprised of silt clay and increasing percentages of sand. Lettuce was irrigated routinely with antibiotic-amended water (1 mg/L) from seed germination through the first harvest (40 days), switched to control water, and fate monitored at days 45 and 50. Sulfamethoxazole was the only compound where tissue concentrations increased with increasing sand concentrations to 24.7 ng/g fresh weight (FW). Lincomycin was most readily accumulated with increasing concentrations observed at the second harvest in both the loam (68.3 ng/g FW) and sandy soils (66.6 ng/g FW). Apparent toxicity of the antibiotic mixture resulted in decreasing plant mass (37-72%) with increasing sand content. Results from this study show that soil texture impacts plant growth, contaminant transport, plant uptake, and toxic effects, which all contribute to, observed concentrations in edible plant portions.
AB - To address the issue of global freshwater shortages, wastewater has become an increasingly valuable alternative for crop irrigation. As a result, trace levels of emerging contaminants, including antibiotics, may occur in water used for food production. The objective of this study was to investigate how soil texture affected the availability and uptake of three chemically diverse antibiotics (lincomycin, oxytetracycline, and sulfamethoxazole) by lettuce grown in soils comprised of silt clay and increasing percentages of sand. Lettuce was irrigated routinely with antibiotic-amended water (1 mg/L) from seed germination through the first harvest (40 days), switched to control water, and fate monitored at days 45 and 50. Sulfamethoxazole was the only compound where tissue concentrations increased with increasing sand concentrations to 24.7 ng/g fresh weight (FW). Lincomycin was most readily accumulated with increasing concentrations observed at the second harvest in both the loam (68.3 ng/g FW) and sandy soils (66.6 ng/g FW). Apparent toxicity of the antibiotic mixture resulted in decreasing plant mass (37-72%) with increasing sand content. Results from this study show that soil texture impacts plant growth, contaminant transport, plant uptake, and toxic effects, which all contribute to, observed concentrations in edible plant portions.
KW - antibiotic
KW - soil texture
KW - toxicity
KW - uptake
KW - water reuse
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U2 - 10.1089/ees.2017.0376
DO - 10.1089/ees.2017.0376
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85051461671
SN - 1092-8758
VL - 35
SP - 887
EP - 896
JO - Environmental Engineering Science
JF - Environmental Engineering Science
IS - 8
ER -