An exhaustive investigation on antibiotics contamination from livestock farms within sensitive reservoir water area: Spatial density, source apportionment and risk assessment

Abstract

Although the studies on antibiotic contamination are common at present, large-scale sampling studies drawing highly representative conclusions are still scarce. This study conducted a comprehensive investigation on a total of 1183 samples from 70 livestock farms within a sensitive area around reservoir waters. 45 types of antibiotics belonging to 5 different classes were monitored. This is the first analysis to comprehensively investigate the density distribution, source apportionment, ecological and health risk of antibiotics in an entire area of sensitive waters. The results showed that the layer manure samples had highest detection rate of antibiotics (0.0 %-96.1 %, average value = 30.7 %) followed by pig manure samples. Oxytetracycline had the highest concentration of 712.16 mg/kg in a pig manure sample. Different from using antibiotic concentration as a proxy for pollution level, the spatial density was calculated by averaging antibiotic concentration to area and converting different livestock to pig equivalent. The spatial density of pig equivalent can more realistically reflect the pollution caused by different breeds of livestocks. It was shown that the pig farms contributed higher to total antibiotic density than the layer and cattle farms did. After assessed, a few antibiotics (oxytetracycline, chlorotetracycline and tetracycline) have posed high ecological risks to soil around the farms. However, none of them caused hazard quotient (HQ) risk and carcinogenic risk (CR) to human health in the water of reservoir. Children were more likely to be at hazard risk than adults. Antibiotic mass fluctuation rules were analyzed along the chain (feed → livestock waste → soil → surface water). Feed, livestock waste and soil had similar diversity, but the antibiotic concentrations continued to decline, implying the possible sources of antibiotic residues were similar. Thus, it is important to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use to prevent the potential long-term risk of antibiotics.

Keywords: Antibiotic; Livestock farm; Risk assessment; Source apportionment; Spatial density.