Project Details
Projekt
Effects of veterinary medicines on the functional diversity of the microbial biomass in soils
Subject Area
Soil Sciences
Term
from 2005 to 2014
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5471428
Antibiotics enter the environment by dispersion of sludge and manure used as fertilizer in agriculture. Due to their effectiveness against bacteria important soil functions could be affected and processes in element cycles might be disturbed. Studying the antibiotic sulfadiazine changes in the gene expressions of several N-cycling genes as well as effects on different N-transformation processes of two test soils were detected. The effects were time and dose dependent. However this effect study was performed with a single application of the antibiotic under laboratory conditions and using bulk soil. Especially no results on effects on functional or structural diversity of sulfadiazine (and difloxazin) or other sulfonamides (and fluroquinolones, respectively) are available under field conditions and after repeated application. To asses the risks of antibiotics in the environment field experiments are most important since the fate of antibiotics might differ under field and laboratory conditions. The heterogeneity of the soil system, plant communities, the manure distribution and the spatial concentration of soil bacteria in hot spots, like the rhizosphere, determine the occurrence of effects in soils. Furthermore repeated application of the antibiotics might change the response pattern of microbial communities.
DFG Programme
Research Units
