Influence of manure application method on veterinary medicine losses to water

Veterinary medicines are routinely used within modern animal husbandry, which results in frequent detections within animal manures and slurries. The application of manures to land as a form of organic fertiliser presents a pathway by which these bioactive chemicals can enter the environment. However, to date, there is limited understanding regarding the influence of commonly used manure application methods on veterinary medicine fate in soil systems. To bridge this knowledge gap, a semi-field study was conducted to assess the influence of commonly used application methods such as, broadcast, chisel sweep, and incorporation on veterinary medicine losses to waters. A range of veterinary medicines were selected and applied as a mixture; these were enrofloxacin, florfenicol, lincomycin, meloxicam, oxytetracycline, sulfadiazine, trimethoprim and tylosin. All the assessed veterinary medicines were detected within surface runoff and leachates, and the concentrations generally decreased throughout the irrigation period. The surface runoff concentrations ranged from 0.49 to 183.47 μg/L and 2.26–236.83 μg/L for the bare soil and grass assessments respectively. The leachate concentrations ranged from 0.04 to 309.66 μg/L and 0.33–37.79 μg/L for the bare soil and grass assessments respectively. More advanced application methods (chisel sweep) were found to significantly reduce the mass loads of veterinary medicines transported to surface runoff and leachate by 13–56% and 49–88% over that of broadcast. Incorporating pig slurries reduced the losses further with surface runoff and leachate losses being 13–56% and 49–88% lower than broadcast. Our results show that manure application techniques have a significant effect on veterinary medicine fate in the environment and as such these effects should be considered in the decision-making processes for the management of manures as well as from a risk mitigation perspective for aquatic compartments.