Effect of Veterinary Antibiotics on the Growth of Lettuce

Veterinary antibiotics (VAs) has been used to treat animal disease and to increase body weight. However, released VAs in the soil via spreading of compost can transport to plant and affect its growth. Main purpose of this research was i) to monitor VAs concentration in plant and ii) to evaluate inhibition effect of VAs residuals on the plant growth. Red lettuce (Lactuca sativa) was cultivated for 35 days in the pot soil spiked with 3 different concertation (0.05, 0.5, $5.0mg\;kg^{-1}$) of chlortetracycline (CTC) and sulfamethazine (SMZ). After 35 days of cultivation, concentration of CTC and SMZ in the plant was measured. Residual of CTC and SMZ was only quantified at the range of $0.007-0.008mg\;kg^{-1}$ and $0.006-0.017mg\;kg^{-1}$ in the leaf and root respectively when high concentration ($5.0mg\;kg^{-1}$) of antibiotic was spiked in the soil. Leaf length and root mass was statistically reduced when $0.05mg\;kg^{-1}$ of CTC was spiked in the soil while no statistical difference was observed for SMZ treatment. This result might indicated that high $K_{ow}$ and $K_d$ value are the main parameters for inhibiting plant growth. Antibiotics that has a high $K_{ow}$ causing hydrophobicity and easy to bioaccumulate in the lipid cell membrane. Also, antibiotics that has a high $K_d$ properties can be sorbed in the root causing growth inhibition of the plant. Overall, management of VAs should be conducted to minimize adverse effect of VAs in the ecosystem.