Effects and mechanisms of aquatic landscape plants on the removal of veterinary antibiotics from hydroponic solutions.

Abstract

Four aquatic landscape plants and three veterinary antibiotics were selected to construct a hydroponic test system to analyze the tolerance, removal effect and mechanism of antibiotics. The results indicated that antibiotic concentrations from 0 to 100 μg·L^-1 promoted plant heights and leaf chlorophyll contents, while antibiotics at concentrations > 100 μg·L^-1 had inhibitory effects. The ability of different plants to remove antibiotics was Acorus calamus L. > Ceratophyllum demersum L. > Thalia dealbata Fraser > Nuphar pumila (Timm) DC. The plants with the best removal of norfloxacin, sulfadimethoxine and chlortetracycline were Ceratophyllum demersum L., Acorus calamus L. and Acorus calamus L. after 12 d of hydroponic cultivation using 100 μg·L^-1 antibiotics, with removal rates of 66.6%, 63.0% and 63.2%, respectively. The accumulation of antibiotics in different plant tissues was root > stem > leaf and the accumulation increased with incubation time. The diversity of plant root biofilm microorganisms decreased with increasing treatment concentrations of antibiotics, while the abundance of dominant genera (Aeromonas, Bacillus, Lysinibacillus, Providencia, and Staphylococcus) showed an increasing trend. The findings imply that the antibiotic uptake by plants and the dynamics of the rhizosphere microbial community combine to promote antibiotic removal.