PARENT SESSION
PS23 - Contaminants of Emerging Concern
Sunday, 17 November 2002
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall
(P217) Evaluating the potential water quality impacts associated with contaminants in poultry manure.
McGee, Beth*,1, Yonkos, Lance2, Fisher, Daniel2, Petty, Jim3, Alvarez, David3, May, Thomas3, Huckins, James3, 1 USFWS, Chesapeake Bay Field Office, Annapolis, MD, USA2 University of Maryland, Queenstown, MD, USA3 USGS, Columbia Environmental Research Center, Columbia, MO, USA
ABSTRACT- The Delmarva peninsula is one of the largest poultry areas in the U.S., producing some 600 million chickens and 1.6 billion pounds of manure annually. In addition to nutrients, poultry manure contains feed additives such as trace metals, antibiotics, as well as naturally produced hormones. In spring 2000, a two year field study was initiated to evaluate the potential water quality impacts of these "non-traditional" contaminants. The study included the deployment of polar organic compound integrative water samplers (POCIS), organic analysis of poultry manure and sediments, and the analysis of trace metals in water, sediments and manure at several sites on the Delmarva peninsula and a reference site on Maryland's western shore. Biological endpoints included analysis of vitellogenin (Vtg) in the blood of male fish and benthic macroinvertebrate surveys. Free estradiol was not detected in manure samples analyzed by HPLC, but estradiol and estrone were detected in aqueous manure extracts. Compounds that were detected in the POCIS deployed at sites on the Delmarva peninsula included atrazine, tetracycline, and 17 B-estradiol; the latter two compounds were not detected at the reference site. Vtg was measured in all resident male carp collected, but concentrations were highest at the Delmarva sites, at levels indicative of exposure to an estrogenic stimulus. Although concentrations of Zn, Cu and As were elevated in chicken manure, concentrations of these elements were not elevated in sediments and surface waters relative to the reference site. These preliminary results suggest that tetracycline compounds, added to a variety of animal feeds, may be useful as a tracer of poultry manure contaminants.
Key words: estradiol, poultry, vitellogenin, POCIS