Removal of five fluoroquinolone antibiotics during broiler manure composting

ABSTRACT

Composting is a cost-effective approach for the removal of antibiotics from the environment; however, the consequence of this approach on fluoroquinolone antibiotics is limited. The fate of five representative fluoroquinolone antibiotics, namely ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, lomefloxacin, norfloxacin, and sarafloxacin, was investigated in a pilot-scale composting of broiler manure over 42 days. The effect of antibiotic concentrations (at a dose of 15, 30, or 60 mg/kg for each and a control without antibiotic addition) on the composting process was also assessed. The 42-day composting showed 45.3–75.4% of antibiotic removal with species-specific patterns. However, the observed variations in such removal among both antibiotics concentrations and composting times were not significant in most cases, possibly indicating a slight side-effect of the tested antibiotic concentrations on the composting process. To the best of our knowledge, this study is among few studies with a focus on the persistence of fluoroquinolone antibiotics during a pilot-scale composting, which warrants further study in regards to the mechanism underlying the removal of these compounds during composting.

KEYWORDS:

• Antibiotics
• broiler
• composting
• fluoroquinolone
• removal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China [grant number 2016YFD0800202], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 41571481]; the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China [grant number 2012AA06A304]; and the Program of the Special Scientific Research Fund of Environmental Public Welfare Profession of China [grant number 201509034].