Regulating manure application discharges from concentrated animal feeding operations in the United States

In the United States, reducing pollution from agriculture has received attention due to data suggesting that this is the leading source of impairment of many waterbodies. The federal government revised its regulations governing concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to enhance governmental oversight over sources of pollution. For the application of manure resulting in pollutant discharges, CAFOs need to implement nutrient management plans. A federal court affirmed the ability of the US federal government to oversee the application of manure from CAFOs that have discharges. Simultaneously, owners and operators of CAFOs who have implemented an appropriate nutrient management plan may forgo securing a permit if their discharges qualify under the agricultural stormwater discharge exemption.     

Occurrence of veterinary antibiotics in animal wastewater and surface water around farms in Jiangsu Province, China

The objective of this investigation was to obtain a broad profile of veterinary antibiotics residues in animal wastewater and surface water around large-scale livestock and poultry farms in Jiangsu Province of China. Therefore, 53 samples collected from 27 large-scale animal farms in 11 cities and counties of Jiangsu Province in 2009, were monitored for 10 selected veterinary antibiotics using solid phase extraction and high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS/MS) techniques. Ten veterinary antibiotics were found in animal wastewaters, eight antibiotics were detected in pond waters, and animal farm-effluents and river water samples were contaminated by nine antibiotics. The most frequently detected antibiotics were sulfamethazine (75%), oxytetracycline (64%), tetracycline (60%), sulfadiazine (55%) and sulfamethoxazole (51%) which were detected with a maximum concentration of 211, 72.9, 10.3, 17.0 and 63.6 μg L⁻¹, respectively. The maximum concentration of 0.55 μg L⁻¹ for cyromazine, 3.67 μg L⁻¹ for chlortetracycline, 0.63 μg L⁻¹ for sulfadoxine, 39.5 μg L⁻¹ for doxycycline and 0.64 μg L⁻¹ for sulfaquinoxaline were determined in the collected samples. In general, the maximum concentration of the selected veterinary antibiotics was detected in animal wastewaters except for chlortetracycline in animal farm-effluents. In addition, residue levels of selected veterinary antibiotics in animal wastewater and surface water around the farms were related to animal species and have a high spatial variation.     

Occurrence, distribution and seasonal variation of antibiotics in the Huangpu River, Shanghai, China

Water samples were collected from 19 sampling sites along the Huangpu River in June and December 2009. The occurrence, distribution and seasonal variation of 22 antibiotics, including four tetracyclines, three chloramphenicols, two macrolides, six fluoroquinolones, six sulfonamides and trimethoprim were investigated. It was found that all 19 sampling sites were contaminated by antibiotics. Four antibiotics (sulfamerazine, norfloxacin, fleroxacin and sarafloxacin) were not detected. The detection frequencies of the other 18 antibiotics were in the range of 5.3-100%. The median concentrations of the detected antibiotics ranged from quantification limits to 36.71 ng L⁻¹ (tetracycline) in June and to 313.44 ng L⁻¹ (sulfamethazine) in December. The number of detected antibiotics and the overall antibiotic concentrations were higher in December than in June due to the different river flow conditions. Different dominant antibiotics were observed for each group of antibiotics between June and December. Higher total concentrations of veterinary antibiotics such as tetracyclines were observed in suburban sampling sites than in unban sites, indicating the role of livestock and agricultural activities as an important source of antibiotic contamination.     

Bacteria additives to the changes in gaseous mass transfer from stored swine manure

Abstract

A bacteria additives treatment experiment in assessing the changes in gaseous mass transfer from stored swine manure is presented. The experiment is tested for ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide emission data sampled from pilot swine manure columns and analyzed by GC/MS. The result shows that bacteria additives slightly reduce the methane and carbon dioxide releases, while the same additives do not show any effect on the reduction of ammonia. The hydrogen sulfide contents of stored swine manure continued to be low. Gas concentrations emitted from treated and untreated stored swine manure were: 3.76 and 2.2 ppm for methane, 0.35 and 0.11 ppm for ammonia, and 1000 and 470 ppm for carbon dioxide, respectively. A simple model to estimate gas emission rates is also developed from the viewpoint of two‐film resistance theory. The average emission rates calculated from the model for methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide are respectively: 0.01, 0.0005, and 13.98 g/min from untreated stored manure; while 0.07, 0.096, and 0.55 g/min from treated manure. The emission model also indicates that for most gaseous pollutants of environmental concern, liquid phase transfer coefficient controls the rate of volatile compounds emitted from stored swine manure and gas phase transfer coefficient has insignificant effect in the calculation of overall mass transfer coefficient.     

Occurrence and source analysis of typical veterinary antibiotics in manure, soil, vegetables and groundwater from organic vegetable bases, northern China

The residue of antibiotics is becoming an intractable environmental problem in many organic vegetable bases. However, their residual levels and distribution are still obscure. This work systematically analyzed the occurrence and migration of typical veterinary antibiotics in organic vegetable bases, northern China. The results showed that there was no obvious geographical difference in antibiotic distribution between soil and manure. A simple migration model can be easy and quick to predict the accumulation of antibiotics in soil. Antibiotics were mainly taken up through water transport and passive absorption in vegetables. The distribution of antibiotics in a plant was in the sequence leaf > stem > root, and performed biological accumulation. The residues of antibiotics in all samples in winter were significantly higher than those in summer. Overall, this work can lay the foundation for understanding ecological risk of antibiotics and their potential adverse effects on human health by food chain.     

Pollution characteristics of 23 veterinary antibiotics in livestock manure and manure-amended soils in Jiangsu province,China

The aim of this study was to investigate the pollution characteristics of typical veterinary antibiotics in manure and soil of livestock farms in Jiangsu province. This investigation employed solid-phase extraction (SPE) coupled with ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). A total of 53 manure and 50 amended soil samples from 16 livestock farms in Jiangsu province were collected for analysis. In the manure samples, the highest detected frequencies and concentrations were those of tetracyclines (TCs, 54.1 ± 5775.6 μgkg^?1), followed by fluoroquinolones (FQs, 8.4 ± 435.6 μgkg^?1), sulphonamides (SAs, 3.2 ± 5.2 μgkg^?1) and macrolides (MACs, 0.4 ± 110.5 μgkg^?1). Statistical analysis was used to illuminate the pollution characteristics of 23 veterinary antibiotics for various animal types and different regions in Jiangsu province. The results showed that the pollution level in cow manure was relatively lower compared with pig and chicken manure due to the relative restriction of medication. Furthermore, contamination was serious in amended soil from chicken farms. The pollution level in manure among different regions was higher to the south and north compared with the centre of the region. The same outcome was found for soil. Antibiotic residues in organic fertilizer were also investigated in this study. We found that although the detected concentration was lower in organic fertilizer than in fresh manure, detection frequencies (10–90%) were high, especially for roxithromycin (90%) in MACs (30–90%). This finding suggests attention should be paid to the pollution levels in organic fertilizer. This study is the first extensive investigation of the occurrence and distribution of many kinds of typical veterinary antibiotics in manure and soil from livestock farms of Jiangsu province. This investigation systematically assesses veterinary antibiotics usage and related emissions in southeast China.     

Roles of pyrolysis on availability,species and distribution of Cu and Zn in the swine manure: Chemical extractions and high-energy synchrotron analyses

Animal manures generally contain high levels of heavy metals that may pose a significant threat to soil and groundwater qualities. Pyrolysis as means of reducing metal availability in such feed stocks is recently encouraged, but systematic studies are currently lacking. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of pyrolysis temperature on the availability of Cu and Zn by chemical extraction, to determine the speciation of Cu and Zn by synchrotron-based X-ray spectroscopy, and finally to investigate the phase distribution of metal species in the carbonaceous materials by combining acid–base extractions and absorption spectroscopy data. The results showed that both Cu and Zn in the swine manure were mainly bound to organic functional groups. Cu (II) reduction and Cu (I)–S complexes were observed during the pyrolysis process. Zn species resembling ZnAc₂ was still dominant, being 60.8–69.2%, and ZnS increased by 6.6–21.8% in the carbonaceous materials. The distribution of Cu and Zn in the mineral, carbonized and non-carbonized organic phases varied greatly with the pyrolysis temperature. The higher the temperature, the more the metals existed in the mineral phase and carbonized organic phase. The decrease of EDTA extractable Cu and Zn with pyrolysis temperature was due to the increase of metals in the carbonized organic phase and mineral phase. It is suggested that pyrolysis at the relatively higher temperature is a better choice for metal-containing manure according to the metal speciation, solubility and availability.     

Occurrence and distribution of veterinary antibiotics and tetracycline resistance genes in farmland soils around swine feedlots in Fujian Province, China

Six antibiotics, tetracyclines (TCs), and quinolones (QNs) in farmland soils from four coastal cities in Fujian Province of China were investigated. Oxytetracycline was most frequently detected, followed by enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, chlorotetracycline, ofloxacin, and tetracycline, with maximum concentrations of 613.2, 637.3, 237.3, 2668.9, 205.7, and 189.8 μg kg^?1, respectively. Samples from Putian City contained the highest maximum concentration of ∑TCs (3,064.2 μg kg^?1), whereas those from Fuzhou City contained the highest maximum concentration of ∑QNs (897.8 μg kg^?1). It is noteworthy that the ∑TCs and ∑QNs in 46.4 and 28.6 % of samples exceeded the ecotoxic effect trigger value (100 μg kg^?1), respectively. The concentrations of these antibiotics and five tetracycline resistance genes in four soil plots at depth profiles were quantified thereafter. In most cases, both antibiotics and resistance genes decreased with the increase of depth. Some antibiotics can be detected at a depth of 60–80 cm where the abundance of tetO, tetM, and tetX reached up to 10⁷ copies g^?1. Additionally, the sum of all tet genes (normalized to 16S rRNA genes) correlated with ∑TCs significantly (r?=?0.676). Our results suggest that resistance determinants can migrate to deeper soil layers and would probably contaminate groundwater by vertical transport.     

Occurrence of antibiotics in water, sediments, aquatic plants, and animals from Baiyangdian Lake in North China

This study investigated the presence and distribution of 22 antibiotics, including eight quinolones, nine sulfonamides and five macrolides, in the water, sediments, and biota samples from Baiyangdian Lake, China. A total of 132 samples were collected in 2008 and 2010, and laboratory analyses revealed that antibiotics were widely distributed in the lake. Sulfonamides were the dominant antibiotics in the water (0.86-1563 ng L⁻¹), while quinolones were prominent in sediments (65.5-1166 μg kg⁻¹) and aquatic plants (8.37-6532 μg kg⁻¹). Quinolones (17.8-167 μg kg⁻¹) and macrolides [from below detection limit (BDL) to 182 μg kg⁻¹] were often found in aquatic animals and birds. Salvinia natans exhibited the highest bioaccumulation capability for quinolones among three species of aquatic plants. Geographical differences of antibiotic concentrations were greatly due to anthropogenic activities. Sewage discharged from Baoding City was likely the main source of antibiotics in the lake. Risk assessment of antibiotics on aquatic organisms suggested that algae and aquatic plants might be at risk in surface water, while animals were likely not at risk.     

Trends in the occurrence of human and veterinary antibiotics in the sediments of the Yellow River, Hai River and Liao River in northern China

The occurrence of four classes of 17 commonly used antibiotics (including fluoroquinolones, tetracycline, sulfonamides, and macrolides) was investigated in the sediments of the Yellow River, Hai River and Liao River in northern China by using rapid resolution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Higher concentrations were detected for most antibiotics in the sediments of the Hai River than in the sediments of the other rivers. Norfloxacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and oxytetracycline in the three rivers were most frequently detected with concentrations up to 5770, 1290, 653 and 652 ng/g, respectively. High frequencies and concentrations of the detected antibiotics were often found in the downstream of large cities and areas influenced by feedlot and fish ponds. Good fitted linear regression equations between antibiotic concentration and sediment physicochemical properties (TOC, texture and pH) were also found, indicating that sediment properties are important factors influencing the distribution of antibiotics in the sediment of rivers.     

Determination of antibiotics in sewage from hospitals, nursery and slaughter house, wastewater treatment plant and source water in Chongqing region of Three Gorge Reservoir in China

Sewage samples from 4 hospitals, 1 nursery, 1 slaughter house, 1 wastewater treatment plant and 5 source water samples of Chongqing region of Three Gorge Reservoir were analyzed for macrolide, lincosamide, trimethoprim, fluorouinolone, sulfonamide and tetracycline antibiotics by online solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results showed that the concentration of ofloxacin (OFX) in hospital was the highest among all water environments ranged from 1.660 μg/L to 4.240 μg/L and norfloxacin (NOR, 0.136-1.620 μg/L), ciproflaxacin (CIP, ranged from 0.011 μg/L to 0.136 μg/L), trimethoprim (TMP, 0.061-0.174 μg/L) were commonly detected. Removal range of antibiotics in the wastewater treatment plant was 18-100% and the removal ratio of tylosin, oxytetracycline and tetracycline were 100%. Relatively higher removal efficiencies were observed for tylosin (TYL), oxytetracycline (OXY) and tetracycline (TET)(100%), while lower removal efficiencies were observed for Trimethoprim (TMP, 1%), Epi-iso-chlorotetracycline (EICIC, 18%) and Erythromycin-H₂O (ERY-H₂O, 24%). Antibiotics were removed more efficiently in primary treatment compared with those in secondary treatment.