Investigation of the tetracycline, sulfonamide, and fluoroquinolone antimicrobial compounds in animal manure and agricultural soils in Turkey.

Occurrence of antimicrobial residuals in the environment is of concern because of the emergence and development of antimicrobial-resistance in pathogen bacteria, and the ecotoxicological behaviour of these compounds. Investigation of antimicrobial pollution in animal manure has special importance since they constitute the major source for the dissemination of these chemicals into the environment. Hence, eight animal manure and nine agricultural soil samples from the North part of Marmara Region (Turkey) were collected and analyzed for two tetracyclines (TCs), four sulfonamides (SAs), and two fluoroquinolones (FQs). At least one antimicrobial compound was detected in all the agricultural soil and animal manure samples. The highest antimicrobial concentrations were in general detected in the fresh poultry manure samples. Mean recoveries from spiked soil and manure samples ranged from 60 to 86% and 62 to 77% for TCs, 69 to 101% and 14 to 82% for SAs, and 46 to 55% and 24 to 42% for FQs, respectively. Relationship between the recovery rates of the antimicrobial compounds and sample characteristics was statistically evaluated by means of hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), and principal component analysis (PCA) followed by multiple stepwise regression (MSR). HCA showed agricultural soil samples with higher di- and trivalent metal contents resulted in higher TC and lower FQ recoveries. TC recoveries from manure were highest in the samples with lowest K, Mg, and Ca content, while FQs were more efficiently extracted from the manure samples with less % organic carbon (OC) content. The findings of HCA for TCs were supported by those of MSR analysis, giving comparable results. In addition, MSR of SA recoveries revealed that the increasing amounts of manure % OC led to lower recoveries.