Removal of herbicides in a biopurification system is not negatively affected by oxytetracycline or fungally pretreated oxytetracycline

Abstract

The disposal of agricultural antibiotic-containing wastewater in biopurification systems (BPS) employed in the treatment of pesticides, may negatively affect the removal capacity of these devices. This work aimed to employ a fungal pretreatment of oxytetracycline (OTC)-rich wastewater, before its disposal in a BPS used for the treatment of two pesticides. The fungal treatment at reactor scale (stirred tank reactor, 3L) with biomass of Trametes versicolor efficiently removed 100 mg L−1 OTC in only 60 h. However, ecotoxicity tests on seed germination with Lactuca sativa revealed that antibiotic elimination did not correlate with a decrease in toxicity. After the pretreatment, treated OTC was discarded in biomixtures used for the elimination of the herbicides ametryn and terbutryn. The co-application of treated or untreated OTC did not inhibit the removal of the herbicides; moreover, in both cases their removal seemed to be slightly enhanced in the presence of OTC or its residues, with respect to antibiotic-free biomixtures. Estimated half-lives ranged from 28.4 to 34.8 d for ametryn, and 34.0–51.0 d for terbutryn. In addition, the biomixture was also able to remove OTC in the presence of the herbicides, with an estimated half-life of 38 d. Remarkably, the toxicity of the wastewater containing OTC or treated OTC was mostly eliminated after its disposal in the biomixture. Overall results suggest that, given the high efficiency of the biomixture, the fungal pretreatment of OTC-containing wastewater is not mandatory before its disposal in the BPS.