The persistence of a broad range of antibiotics during calve, pig and broiler manure storage

After administration to livestock, a large fraction of antibiotics are excreted unchanged via excreta and can be transferred to agricultural land. For effective risk assessment a critical factor is to determine which antibiotics can be expected in the different environmental compartments. After excretion, the first relevant compartment is manure storage. In the current study, the fate of a broad scope of antibiotics (n = 46) during manure storage of different livestock animals (calves, pigs, broilers) was investigated. Manure samples were fortified with antibiotics and incubated during 24 days. Analysis was carried out by LC-MS. The dissipation of the antibiotics was modelled based on the recommendations of FOCUS working group. Sulphonamides relatively quickly dissipate in all manure types, with a DT90 of in general between 0.2 and 30 days. Tetracyclines (DT90 up to 422 days), quinolones (DT90 100–5800 days), macrolides (DT90 18–1000 days), lincosamides (DT90 135–1400 days) and pleuromutilins (DT90 of 49–1100 days) are in general much more persistent, but rates depend on the manure type. Specifically lincomycin, pirlimycin, tiamulin and most quinolones are very persistent in manure with more than 10% of the native compound remaining after a year in most manure types. For all compounds tested in the sub-set, except the macrolides, the dissipation was an abiotic process. Based on the persistence and current frequency of use, oxytetracycline, doxycycline, flumequine and tilmicosin can be expected to end up in environmental compartments. Ecotoxicological data should be used to further prioritize these compounds.