A conceptual model describing the fate of sulfadiazine and its metabolites observed in manure-amended soils

Abstract

Sulfadiazine (SDZ) belongs to the chemical class of sulfonamides, one of the most important groups of antibiotics applied in animal husbandry in Europe. These antibiotics end up in the soil after manure from treated animals is applied as fertilizer. They can inhibit soil microbial functions and enhance the spread of resistance genes among soil microorganisms. In order to assess the exposure of soil microorganisms to SDZ, a conceptual kinetic model for the prediction of temporally resolved antibiotic concentrations in soil was developed. The model includes transformation reactions, reversible sequestration and the formation of non-extractable residues (NER) from SDZ and its main metabolites N 4-acetyl-sulfadiazine (N-ac-SDZ) and 4-hydroxy-sulfadiazine (OH-SDZ). The optimum model structure and rate constants of SDZ kinetics and its metabolites were determined by fitting different model alternatives to sequential extraction data of a manure-amended Cambisol soil. N-ac-SDZ is degraded to SDZ with a half-life of 4 d, whereas OH-SDZ is not. Though, based on the available data, the hydroxylation of SDZ seems to be negligible, it is still included in the model structure since this process has been observed in recent studies. Sequestration into a residual fraction has similar kinetics for SDZ, N-ac-SDZ and OH-SDZ and is one order of magnitude faster than the reverse translocation. The irreversible formation of NER is restricted to SDZ and OH-SDZ. The model shows good agreement when applied to extraction data measured independently for a Luvisol soil. The combination of sequential extraction data and the conceptual kinetic model enables us to gain further insight into the long-term fate and exposure of sulfonamides in soil.