title: Migration and degradation of swine farm tetracyclines at the river catchment scale: Can the multi-pond system mitigate pollution risk to receiving rivers?
abstract: The study investigated the degradation behaviors of swine farm tetracyclines (TCs) at a catchment scale and explored whether multi-pond systems could be beneficial to the interception of TCs so as to reduce the pollution risk to receiving rivers. The occurrence and migration of 12 kinds of tetracycline antibiotics, including their degradation products, were studied in four swine farms of the Meijiang River basin in China. The migration paths of the TCs were examined through sampling and analyzing the soil and/or sediment at different points along the swine wastewater outlet, which included sewer, sewage pond, mixed-canal (stream and sewage), farmland (paddy and upland soil) and finally the river. TC concentrations of all collected samples were obtained by solid phase extraction followed by measurement with high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The results showed that sediment TC concentrations varied greatly in different swine farms, from mg·kg-1to μg·kg-1levels. TCs had different decay patterns along different migration paths, such that TCs decayed exponentially in paddy soil, while linearly in sewer and mixed canal. The concentrations of TCs and their degradation products decreased in the order: sewer sediment > sewage pond sediment > mixed-canal sediment > paddy soil > upland soil, indicating that TCs tend to be more easily intercepted and accumulated in water-sediment systems such as ponds. Therefore, the multi-pond system could be an effective way to prevent TCs from migrating into rivers. These results provided essential information for contamination control of antibiotics in aquatic environments.
authors.affiliation: Center for Eco-Environmental Research, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing 210029, China. Electronic address: qwchen@nhri.cn.
authors.forename: Qiuwen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Center for Eco-Environmental Research, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing 210029, China.
authors.forename: Guofen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Guoliang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Center for Eco-Environmental Research, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing 210029, China.
authors.forename: Ranran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000032:analysis*; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D000072480:Farms; D061005:Ponds; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D013552:Swine; D013754:Tetracyclines / Q000032:analysis*; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D013754:Tetracyclines; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Decay behavior; Degradation products; Migration path; Natural interception; Tetracycline antibiotics