Sorption of tylosin A, D, and A-aldol and degradation of tylosin A in soils.

Heightened concerns regarding the potential impact on soil and water quality of veterinary antibiotics warrant a better understanding of the environmental fate of antibiotics in soil. Sorption of the macrolides tylosin A (TA), tylosin D, and TA-aldol was measured in several soils and evaluated with respect to soil pH, organic matter content, percentage clay, and cation-exchange capacity (CEC). Tylosin and related compounds exhibit similar sorption characteristics and generally are strongly sorbed, with sorption being well and positively correlated to surface area, clay content, and CEC. Sorption coefficients normalized by CEC were within a narrow range (10(4.1+/-0.21 L/molc) for all but one soil; however, good extraction recoveries with only methanol for most soils suggested that hydrophobic processes also contribute to sorption. Aerobic degradation of TA over a three-month period in two freshly collected agricultural soils and 60Co-irradiated soils indicated that both abiotic and microbial processes contribute to TA transformation. The abiotic process was much slower and dominated in the first two weeks, followed by rapid microbial degradation within 3 d. Three primary degradation products were identified using liquid chromatography with full-scan mass spectrometry, with unconfirmed identifications of TA having the aldehyde group oxidized to an acid (m/z = 932) in both soils and tyslosin B (m/z = 772) as well as tylosin B having the aldehyde group oxidized to an acid (m/z = 788) in the sandy soil.