Veterinärantibiotikarückstände in Gülle und Gärresten aus Nordrhein-Westfalen

Abstract

Background: The intensive use of veterinary medicines in livestock farming can potentially lead to a contamination of manure and digestates by antibiotics. In 2009 the Northrhein-Westfalian Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection (LANUV NRW) sought to determine the levels of the quantitatively most important veterinary antibiotics. They undertook a screening program in which 34 samples of manure and 35 samples of digestates were investigated. The samples were taken from manure storage tanks of farms and from digestate stores of biogas plants. They were analysed for various tetracyclines, sulfonamides and fluoroquinolones. Results: Residues of antibiotics could be detected in 71% of the samples, namely, in 62% of the manure samples and in 80% of the digestates. Both types of samples showed a differing range of antibiotics and different concentration levels. Pig manure and poultry manure tended to have higher pollution levels than cattle manure. There was no analogous tendency for the digestates which was mainly due to the mixed origin of many digestate samples. The relevance of the release of veterinary antibiotics into agricultural soils via both manure and digestates is discussed. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that manure and digestates can lead to the entry of veterinary antibiotics into agricultural soils. © 2013 Ratsak et al.; licensee Springer.