99th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America - ESA 2014

Activity: Participating in or organising an academic or articstic eventConferencesResearch

Richard Bolek - Coauthor

Effects of antibiotics in soil on the performance of rapeseed

Background/Question/Methods

In animal farming, veterinary anti-infectives such as antibiotics are frequently used. They are incompletely metabolized by the animals and excreted with manure. Through the use of manure as fertilizer, crop species can be exposed to these antibiotics when they persist in manure and soil but little is known about the effects of antibiotics on the life cycle of crop species or whether they influence yield. We therefore aimed to test if and how different concentrations of Sulfadiazine (“SDA”), and a combination of Sulfamethoxazole and Trimethoprim (“COMBI”) affect the growth, development and yield of rapeseed (Brassica napus).

In a greenhouse experiment, the effects of six concentrations of antibiotics, ranging from 1 – 50 mg antibiotic/kg soil of SDA and COMBI, were tested on ten rapeseed individuals for every concentration. Antibiotics dissolved in water were added to the soil once before seeds were planted. A control group of ten individuals was sown without adding any antibiotics. We recorded germination time and weekly measured growth (shoot length), onset of leaves and flowers and number of flowers and fruits. Additionally, antibiotic concentrations were monitored in the soil and runoff water. Ripe fruits were harvested; seeds were weighted, counted and germinated again under control conditions.

Results/Conclusions

Time until germination was significantly prolonged with increasing antibiotics’ concentrations, regardless of the type of antibiotic. Higher concentrations of both antibiotic treatments delayed the onset of leaves but flower onset was only delayed under higher concentrations of COMBI. Germination of new seeds was affected by both antibiotic treatments, with varying germination success between different concentrations. Shoot growth decreased significantly with increasing antibiotics’ concentrations, with more pronounced effects of COMBI. These differences disappeared towards the end of the growing period. Plants in different treatments did not differ in their number of fruits or seeds. Concentrations of all antibiotics decreased over time in soil and runoff water. However, the total amount of detected antibiotics did not account for the initially added amount.

Even though yield (i.e. numbers of fruits and seeds) was not affected, we found different effects of varying concentrations of selected antibiotics on the germination, growth and the germination of the next generation in rapeseed. This might be due to the uptake and metabolism of antibiotics, which were missing in the soil and runoff water monitoring. Our results indicate that veterinary antibiotics might influence the performance of crops, depending on the type and concentration of antibiotic present in the soil.
13.08.2014
99th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America - ESA 2014

Event

99th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America - ESA 2014

13.08.1415.08.14

Sacramento, United States

Event: Other

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Interkulturelle versus transkulturelle Räume des Kulturtourismus
  2. Exploring the processes of emergent leadership in a netball team
  3. Of sustainability and storytelling - An introduction to this book
  4. Schlussüberlegungen zum Zusammenhang von Konsum und Massenkultur
  5. Offene Forschungsfragen und Ausblick im Coastal Energy Managemen
  6. Organizing for innovation through accelerators: Concluding remarks
  7. Wider die Botanik! Biologie und Ästhetik der Zwischenwesen um 1900
  8. Antecedents of Business Opportunity Identification and Innovation
  9. Elektronischer Wissenstransfer: Königsweg für die Beratungspraxis?
  10. Strategies, uncertainty and performance of small business startups
  11. QALD-10 — The 10th Challenge on Question Answering over Linked Data
  12. Die Wahlrechtssysteme in Mittel- und Osteuropa, Gerrit Manssen ...(Hrsg.)
  13. Hydrolyzed organic residues as sources of secondary raw materials
  14. The Company Congress As an Innovative Management Development Tool
  15. Editorial: Innovation und Forschung in der Arbeits(zeit)organisation.
  16. Commodity Chains, Rural Development and the Global Agri-food System
  17. Karl May und die Literaturwissenschaft: ein Thema für Außenseiter?
  18. Religious activity, risk-taking preferences and financial behaviour
  19. Bildungswachstum und äußere Schulreform im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert
  20. Außervertragliche Haftung der EG, Verhältnis zum nationalen Recht
  21. Mathematics in Robot Control for Theoretical and Applied Problems
  22. Rotkohlsaftindikator und Kristalldeo – eine unerklärliche Reaktion?
  23. Kriminalisierung und Versicherheitlichung von Migration. Editorial
  24. Handball im Sportunterricht: Praxiskonzept für die Sekundarstufe I
  25. Controlling the Time Synchronicity of Convergent Supply Processes
  26. Collaborative epistemic writing and writing-to-learn in mathematics
  27. Do workers perceive high wage settlements of craft unions as fair?