Comparison of different salt solutions for density separation of conventional and biodegradable microplastic from solid sample matrices.

Microplastics are the new emerging pollutants ubiquitously detectable in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Fate and behavior, as well as ecotoxicity, are of increasing environmental concern, particularly in sediments and soils as natural sinks. For a global environmental risk assessment, reliable and easy to apply analytical methods are mandatory to obtain comparable data.

Reclaimed water driven lettuce cultivation in a hydroponic system: the need of micropollutant removal by advanced wastewater treatment.

For a novel approach of resource-efficient water reuse, a municipal wastewater treatment plant was extended at pilot scale for advanced wastewater treatment, i.e., ozonation and biological activated carbon filtration, and a hydroponic system for reclaimed water driven lettuce cultivation.

Bulk soil and maize rhizosphere resistance genes, mobile genetic elements and microbial communities are differently impacted by organic and inorganic fertilization.

Organic soil fertilizers, such as livestock manure and biogas digestate, frequently contain bacteria carrying resistance genes (RGs) to antimicrobial substances and mobile genetic elements (MGEs). The effects of different fertilizers (inorganic, manure, digestate) on RG and MGE abundance and microbial community composition were investigated in a field plot experiment. The relative abundances of RGs [sul1, sul2, tet(A), tet(M), tet(Q), tet(W), qacEΔ1/qacE] and MGEs [intI1, intI2, IncP-1, IncP-1ε and LowGC plasmids] in total community (TC)-DNA from organic fertilizers, bulk soil and maize rhizosphere were quantified by qPCR before/after fertilization and prior to maize harvest.

Soil texture-depending effects of doxycycline and streptomycin applied with manure on the bacterial community composition and resistome.

Veterinary antibiotics, bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance determinants located on mobile genetic elements and nutrients are spread on agricultural soil using manure as fertilizer. However, systematic quantitative studies linking antibiotic concentrations and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in manure and the environment are scarce but needed to assess environmental risks. In this microcosm study, a sandy and a loamy soil were mixed with manure spiked with streptomycin or doxycycline at five concentrations.

Contaminations of organic fertilizers with antibiotic residues, resistance genes, and mobile genetic elements mirroring antibiotic use in livestock?

Pig manures are frequently used as fertilizer or co-substrate in biogas plants (BGPs) and typically contain antibiotic residues (ARs), as well as bacteria carrying resistance genes (RGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs). A survey of manures from eight pig fattening and six pig breeding farms and digestates from eight BGPs in Lower Saxony, Germany was conducted to evaluate the link between antibiotic usage and ARs to RGs and MGEs present in organic fertilizers. In total, 11 different antibiotics belonging to six substance classes were applied in the farms investigated.

From the application of antibiotics to antibiotic residues in liquid manures and digestates: A screening study in one European center of conventional pig husbandry.

In conventional pig husbandry, antibiotics are frequently applied. Together with excreta, antibiotic residues enter liquid manures finally used as organic soil fertilizers or input materials for biogas plants. Therefore, this first screening study was performed to survey the application patterns of antibiotics from fall 2011 until spring 2013.

Laboratory testing on the removal of the veterinary antibiotic doxycycline during long-term liquid pig manure and digestate storage.

The veterinary antibiotic doxycycline (DOXY) is today frequently applied in conventional pig husbandry for the control of respiratory diseases. After the treatment, pigs excrete major amounts of DOXY as the unchanged active substance. Thus, DOXY residues were found in liquid manures and digestates of biogas plants at concentrations of mg kg(-1) dry weight.

Full-scale mesophilic biogas plants using manure as C-source: bacterial community shifts along the process cause changes in the abundance of resistance genes and mobile genetic elements.

The application of manure, typically harboring bacteria carrying resistance genes (RGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs), as co-substrate in biogas plants (BGPs) might be critical when digestates are used as fertilizers. In the present study, the relative abundance of RGs and MGEs in total community (TC-) DNA from manure, fermenters and digestate samples taken at eight full-scale BGPs co-fermenting manure were determined by real-time PCR. In addition, the bacterial community composition of all digestates as well as manure and fermenter material from one BGP (BGP3) was characterized by 454-pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA amplicons from TC-DNA.

Acute Toxicity and Environmental Risks of Five Veterinary Pharmaceuticals for Aquatic Macroinvertebrates.

Due to the high use of antibiotics and antiparasitics for the treatment of livestock, there is concern about the potential impacts of the release of these compounds into freshwater ecosystems. In this context, the present study quantified the acute toxicity of two antibiotics (sulfadiazine and sulfadimidine), and three antiparasitic agents (flubendazole, fenbendazole, ivermectin) for nine freshwater invertebrate species. These experiments revealed a low degree of toxicity for the sulfonamide antibiotics, with limited implications in the survival of all test species at the highest test concentrations (50 and 100 mg/L).

Transferable antibiotic resistance plasmids from biogas plant digestates often belong to the IncP-1ε subgroup.

Manure is known to contain residues of antibiotics administered to farm animals as well as bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). These genes are often located on mobile genetic elements. In biogas plants (BGPs), organic substrates such as manure and plant material are mixed and fermented in order to provide energy, and resulting digestates are used for soil fertilization.

Laboratory tests on sorption and transformation of the insecticide flubendiamide in Japanese tea field soil.

Flubendiamide belongs to the modern insecticides applied in Japanese tea cultivation to control smaller tea tortrix and tea leaf roller. Since fate and behavior in soil have been only monitored sparsely and fragmentarily until today, laboratory tests were performed on sorption, leaching, biotransformation and photo-induced biotransformation of flubendiamide in two different soils. In batch equilibrium tests, K(d) and K(OC) values were 15 and 298 L kg(-1) for the Japanese tea field soil as well as 16 and 1610 L kg(-1) for the German arable field soil classifying flubendiamide to be moderately mobile and slightly mobile, respectively.

Process dominance analysis for fate modeling of flubendazole and fenbendazole in liquid manure and manured soil.

Fate monitoring data on anaerobic transformation of the benzimidazole anthelmintics flubendazole (FLU) and fenbendazole (FEN) in liquid pig manure and aerobic transformation and sorption in soil and manured soil under laboratory conditions were used for corresponding fate modeling. Processes considered were reversible and irreversible sequestration, mineralization, and metabolization, from which a set of up to 50 different models, both nested and concurrent, was assembled. Five selection criteria served for model selection after parameter fitting: the coefficient of determination, modeling efficiency, a likelihood ratio test, an information criterion, and a determinability measure.

Development of a novel concept for fate monitoring of biocides in liquid manure and manured soil taking 14C-imazalil as an example.

Biocides are frequently applied in animal houses for veterinary hygiene or pest control. Thus, they may reach liquid manure tanks. Biocides that are not transformed during manure storage enter soil by the application of manure as organic fertilizer.

Chemical and biological characterization of non-extractable sulfonamide residues in soil.

For sulfonamides, the formation of non-extractable residues has been identified by laboratory testing as the most relevant concentration determining process in manured soil. Therefore, the present study has been focused on the chemical and biological characterization of non-extractable residues of (14)C-labeled sulfadiazine or sulfamethoxazole. In laboratory batch experiments, the test substances were spiked via standard solution or test slurry to microbially active soil samples.

Test-plot studies on runoff of sulfonamides from manured soils after sprinkler irrigation.

Three test-plot series have been performed to gather information on runoff of sulfonamides from manured arable and grassland after sprinkler irrigation. To prepare test slurries with defined aged residues, liquid bovine manure was fortified with sulfadiazine, sulfadimidine, and sulfamethoxazole and stored short-term. After test-slurry application, the arable land was treated by soil cultivation before irrigation, and the manured grassland was irrigated directly with 50 mm h(-1) for 2 h.

Investigations on the fate of sulfadiazine in manured soil: laboratory experiments and test plot studies.

The fate of 14C-labeled sulfadiazine (SDZ) in manured soil has been investigated in laboratory test systems. In the first approach, stability of 14C-SDZ in liquid bovine manure has been tested. Only 1% of the initially applied radiotracer was mineralized to 14C-carbon dioxide and 82% were transferred to nonextractable residues within a 102-d incubation period.