Abstract
In recent years interest has grown in the occurrence and the effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment. The aim of this work is to evaluate the risk of fertilizing crops with manure from livestock treated with anthelmintics. The present study was designed to follow the fate of the commonly used anthelmintic drug, ivermectin (IVM) and its metabolites in soybeans (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), a plant that is grown and consumed world-wide for its high content of nutritional and health-beneficial substances. In vitro plantlets and soybean plants, cultivated in a greenhouse, were used for this purpose. Our results showed the uptake of IVM and its translocation to the leaves, but not in the pods and the beans. Four IVM metabolites were detected in the roots, and one in the leaves. IVM exposure decreased slightly the number and weight of the beans and induced changes in the activities of antioxidant enzymes. In addition, the presence of IVM affected the proportion of individual isoflavones and reduced the content of isoflavones aglycones, which might decrease the therapeutic value of soybeans. Fertilization of soybean fields with manure from IVM-treated animals appears to be safe for humans, due to the absence of IVM in beans, the food part of plants. On the other hand, it could negatively affect soybean plants and herbivorous invertebrates.
Highlights
Nowadays, veterinary drugs represent serious contaminants of the environment [1]
We demonstrated the uptake of IVM by Arabidopsis thaliana and the effect on its transcriptome [11]
Based on the results obtained in this model plant, we studied the uptake and accumulation of IVM in soybeans (Glycine max, a common crop abundantly fertilized with manure)
Summary
Veterinary drugs represent serious contaminants of the environment [1]. Drugs, regularly used in livestock, enter the environment directly via excrements on the pastures, or via manure from treated animals. As a result of the poor metabolism of drugs applied in farm animals, more than 50% of these drugs eventually reach soil or water [3]. Another way veterinary drugs are introduced into the environment is through the use of biosolids, produced in the utilization of wastewater as fertilizer on arable land [4]. Plants have the ability to metabolize pharmaceuticals and/or accumulate them or their metabolites in different tissues, including fruits [6,7] This accumulation would potentially pose a clear risk to human health. The quantitative model proposed by [8] offers a comprehensive overview of pharmaceutical contamination through the food production system
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