17β-estradiol and testosterone sorption in soil with and without poultry litter.
17β-estradiol and testosterone are naturally occurring steroids that co-occur in poultry litter. The effects of litter on sorption of these hormones to soil are not known. Sorption isotherms were developed for C-labeled testosterone and H-labeled estradiol in a Cecil sandy clay loam with and without poultry litter addition. The effect of applying the hormones alone (single-sorbate) or together (multisorbate) was also investigated. C-testosterone sorption in soil increased from 2 to 48 h and remained relatively constant thereafter. H-estradiol sorption in soil was relatively constant from 2 to 24 h and then decreased to 72 h. These differences may reflect transformation of the parent hormones to products with different solid-phase affinity. The maximum sorption coefficient () in soil for C-testosterone (20.2 mL g) was similar to that for H-estradiol (19.6 mL g) in single-sorbate experiments. When hormones were applied together, sorption of both hormones in soil decreased, but the C-testosterone  (12.5 mL g) was nearly twice as large as the H-estradiol  (7.4 mL g). We propose this resulted from competition between the hormones and their transformation products for sorption sites, with C-testosterone and its expected transformation product (androstenedione) being better competitors than H-estradiol and its expected transformation product (estrone). When poultry litter was mixed with soil, sorption increased for H-estradiol but decreased for C-testosterone. This may have been because poultry litter slowed the transformation of parent hormones. Our results show that poultry litter could have important effects on the mobility of estradiol and testosterone.
University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA. dradclif@uga.edu
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M
Bera
D E
DE
Radcliffe
M L
ML
Cabrera
W K
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Vencill
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A
Thompson
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Hassan
D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D004958:Estradiol / Q000737:chemistry*; D005430:Floors and Floorcoverings; D006799:Housing, Animal; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry; D013739:Testosterone / Q000737:chemistry*
D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D013739:Testosterone; D004958:Estradiol