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(M/EH066) Ecotoxicological Assessment of Antimicrobial Drugs in Soil Microcosms. Boleas, S.1, Pro, J.1, Fernandez, C.1, Alonso, C.1, Garcia, P.1, Carbonell, G.1, Tarazona, J.V.1, 1 ABSTRACT- The use of veterinary drugs is nowadays a common practice in animal husbandry. Subsequent use of slurry in agricultural lands enables these drugs to reach the soil compartment, but very little is known about their fate and effects in the environment. The Multi-Species Soil Systems (MS-3) offer a cost/effective experimental approach to measure simultaneously fate and effect characteristics on a realistic soil system. MS3-Tox-leach systems, are sieved soil columns, irrigated at prefixed intervals. The bottom part is open and leachates collected daily. Seeds and earthworms are introduced at the beginning of the experiment. Seed germination and biomass production, earthworm mortality, and several enzymatic activities of the microbial soil community are used as toxicity endpoints. Soil layers at different depths can be collected at the end of the exposure periods for assessing the vertical movement of the chemical. The exposure conditions can be modified to produce results similar to those expected in standardised single-species laboratory tests, or closer to those expected under realistic environmental exposures. This work presents the studies done with antimicrobial drugs. Two technical products (oxytetracycline and sulfachloropyridazine) and two commercial formulations (active ingredients tetracycline and sulfamethoxazole) have been used. Single species toxicity tests on aquatic and soil organisms and MS3-Tox-Leach systems are compared. This work is funded by the European Union Research Project ERAVMIS, EVK1-1999-00034P. Key words: veterinary products, soil organisms, toxicity, n/a |
