Occurrence and mobility of antimicrobials and hormones in Oxisol with application of swine slurry

ABSTRACT The use of swine slurry as fertilizer in agriculture is a common practice in areas where thematerialis available. However, the presence of chemicals known as emerging organic pollutants in these wastes can contaminatewater bodies through runoff or leaching. In this work,we evaluate the occurrence of antimicrobials and hormones in soil profile in an experimental agricultural area by applying different doses of swine slurry. The work was performed in the twelfth year of an experiment involving two annual applications of swine slurry in an oxisol at doses of 0, 50, 100, and 200 m3ha-1 and a control, to restore the amounts of P and K exported by grain crops. Soil solution samples were collected using suction lysimeters installed in soil layers at average depths of 20, 40, and 80 cm to determine the concentrations of antibiotics and hormones over a period of 60 days.The concentrations were measured by high-efficiency liquid chromatography. The results showed the occurrence of sulfadimidine antimicrobials, chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline, doxycycline, and the hormones estrone, 17β-estradiol, and 17α-ethinylestradiolat depths of up to 80 cm during the collection period. The concentrations of antimicrobials and hormones in the soil solutions varied over the sampling period and were not affected by the doses of swine slurry applied. An analysis of the concentrations observed in different layers showed that the application of swine slurry in an oxisolcan potentially cause groundwater contamination.