Concentrations of additive arsenic in Beijing pig feeds and the residues in pig manure

The swine industry in China has grown rapidly over last two decades. Great amount of pig manure is generated in China, which can be used as organic fertilizers on agricultural lands. Meanwhile, the organic arsenic compounds have been used as feed additives for swine disease control and weight improvement. Once the excessive additives are released in the environment, arsenic may compromise food safety and environmental quality. There is a growing public concern about the arsenic residues accumulation in pig manure, however, little work has been done to investigate the exact arsenic content in pig feed and the residues in manure in China This study investigates the concentrations of arsenic in 29 pig feed samples and 29 manure samples collected from eight pig farms in the Chaoyang district, Beijing city. The detected rate of arsenic in 29 couples of samples was 100%. The concentrations of arsenic in pig feeds and manures ranged from 0.15 to 37.8 mg/kg and 0.42 to 119.0 mg/kg, respectively. The result showed that arsenic concentration in pig manure will be greatly elevated when the arsenic in pig feed was largely increased. The loading rates of pig manure in fourteen Beijing counties and districts were in the range of 2.7–57.2 t/ha yr. Accordingly, the potential soil arsenic increase rates resulting from land application of pig manure might range between 11.8 and 78.9 μg/kg yr. Despite these findings, it is too early to draw the conclusion that arsenic pollution from pig manure is serious in Beijing farmland; therefore, longitudinal studies about the chemical form transformation and the environmental behaviors of pig manure arsenic are required in order to come up with more definitive conclusions.