Occurrence and sorption of fluoroquinolones in poultry litters and soils from São Paulo State, Brazil

Animal production is one of the most expressive sectors of Brazilian agro-economy. Although antibiotics are routinely used in this activity, their occurrence, fate, and potential impacts to the local environment are largely unknown. This research evaluated sorption–desorption and occurrence of four commonly used fluoroquinolones (norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, danofloxacin, and enrofloxacin) in poultry litter and soil samples from São Paulo State, Brazil. The sorption–desorption studies involved batch equilibration technique and followed the OECD guideline for pesticides. All compounds were analyzed by HPLC, using fluorescence detector. Fluoroquinolones' sorption potential to the poultry litters (Kd ≤65Lkg−1) was lower than to the soil (Kd ~40,000Lkg−1), but was always high (≥69% of applied amount) indicating a higher specificity of fluoroquinolones interaction with soils. The addition of poultry litter (5%) to the soil had not affected sorption or desorption of these compounds. Desorption was negligible in the soil (≤0.5% of sorbed amount), but not in the poultry litters (up to 42% of sorbed amount). Fluoroquinolones' mean concentrations found in the poultry litters (1.37 to 6.68mgkg−1) and soils (22.93μgkg−1) were compatible to those found elsewhere (Austria, China, and Turkey). Enrofloxacin was the most often detected compound (30% of poultry litters and 27% of soils) at the highest mean concentrations (6.68mgkg−1 for poultry litters and 22.93μgkg−1 for soils). These results show that antibiotics are routinely used in poultry production and might represent one potential source of pollution to the environment that has been largely ignored and should be further investigated in Brazil. ► We evaluated occurrence and sorption of fluoroquinolone antibiotics in poultry litter and soil samples from Brazil. ► Fluoroquinolones showed high sorption potential and a higher affinity to the soil than to the poultry litter. ► Poultry litter addition did not affect fluoroquinolones' sorption to the soil. ► Fluoroquinolone concentrations were close to those found elsewhere. ► Enrofloxacin was the most often detected compound, at higher concentrations.