Investigation on the Veterinary Antibiotics Contamination in Groundwater with SPE-LC/MS/MS

[Objective]The aim is to provide data support for the prevention and control of pollution of exogenous chemical in pig breeding industry.[Methods]Solid-phase extraction（SPE）and tandem mass（LC-MS/MS）were used for determining four classes（tetracyclines,quinolones,macrolides and sulfonamides）of 10 common veterinary antibiotics in groundwater of an important pig breeding base in the Yangtze River Delta region of China.[Results]Results revealed the total concentration of the ten antibiotics in urban rivers ranged from 20.1 ng /L to 61.2 ng /L.The highest proportion was taken by tetracyclines,account for 95%,the concentration was up to 44.0 ng /L.Quinolones shared the second largest proportion of total concentration,about 29%,the concentration was up to 21.6 ng /L,while concentration of sulfonamides and macrolides were respectively below 2.7 ng /L and 6.3 ng /L.The highest total concentration of the ten antibiotics in rural rivers was up to 467 ng /L,60% of which was shared by tetracyclines,the highest concentration of tetracyclines was 253 ng /L.Sulfonamides share 20% of the total concentration,the highest concentration of it was 165 ng /L.The highest concentration of macrolides and quinolones was 14.6 ng /L and 14.5 ng /L,respectively.[Conclusion] Antibiotics＇ pollution in town rivers is more serious than urban rivers＇ pollution caused by antibiotics.

Removal of veterinary antibiotics from anaerobically digested swine wastewater using an intermittently aerated sequencing batch reactor

A lab-scale intermittently aerated sequencing batch reactor（IASBR）was applied to treat anaerobically digested swine wastewater（ADSW）to explore the removal characteristics of veterinary antibiotics.The removal rates of 11 veterinary antibiotics in the reactor were investigated under different chemical organic demand（COD）volumetric loadings,solid retention times（SRT）and ratios of COD to total nitrogen（TN）or COD/TN.Both sludge sorption and biodegradation were found to be the major contributors to the removal of veterinary antibiotics.Mass balance analysis revealed that greater than 60%of antibiotics in the influent were biodegraded in the IASBR,whereas averagely 24%were adsorbed by sludge under the condition that sludge sorption gradually reached its equilibrium.Results showed that the removal of antibiotics was greatly influenced by chemical oxygen demand（COD）volumetric loadings,which could achieve up to 85.1%±1.4%at 0.17±0.041 kg COD/m-3/day,while dropped to 75.9%±1.3%and 49.3%±12.1%when COD volumetric loading increased to 0.65±0.032 and1.07±0.073 kg COD/m-3/day,respectively.Tetracyclines,the dominant antibiotics in ADSW,were removed by 87.9%in total at the lowest COD loading,of which 30.4%were contributed by sludge sorption and 57.5%by biodegradation,respectively.In contrast,sulfonamides were removed about 96.2%,almost by biodegradation.Long SRT seemed to have little obvious impact on antibiotics removal,while a shorter SRT of 30–40 day could reduce the accumulated amount of antibiotics and the balanced antibiotics sorption capacity of sludge.Influent COD/TN ratio was found not a key impact factor for veterinary antibiotics removal in this work.

Current and future prospects for nanotechnology in animal production

Nanoparticles have been used as diagnostic and therapeutic agents in the human medical field for quite some time, though their application in veterinary medicine and animal production is still relatively new. Recently,production demands on the livestock industry have been centered around the use of antibiotics as growth promoters due to growing concern over microbial antibiotic resistance. With many countries reporting increased incidences of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, laws and regulations are being updated to end in-feed antibiotic use in the animal production industry. This sets the need for suitable alternatives to be established for inclusion in feed.Many reports have shown evidence that nanoparticles may be good candidates for animal growth promotion and antimicrobials. The current status and advancements of nanotechnological applications in animal production will be the focus of this review and the emerging roles of nanoparticles for nutrient delivery, biocidal agents, and tools in veterinary medicine and reproduction will be discussed. Additionally, influences on meat, egg, and milk quality will be reviewed.