Antimicrobial Substances and Nitrogen Cycle in Agro-Ecosystems

A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2021) | Viewed by 8878

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
National Research Council (CNR), Department of Biology, Agriculture and Food Sciences (DiSBA) Institute for Agricultural and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean (ISAFoM), Portici, NA, Italy
Interests: soil-plant-microbe interactions; soil ecology; nitrogen cycling in agroecosystems, agroecology, nitrification and denitrification
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Guest Editor
National Research Council, Department of Biology, Agriculture and Food Sciences, Institute for the Animal Production System in the Mediterranean Environment, Portici (NA), Italy
Interests: microbiology; ruminal ecosystem; nitrification and denitrification

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nitrogen (N) is essential for crops and is the most limiting nutrient for crop production. For this reason, N is applied to the soil as a mineral or organic fertilizer, often in excess of the nutritional needs of the crops. It is presents under different forms in the soil, where it is mainly used by plants for their growth. Soil microbes also use nitrogen by assimilating inorganic N for the synthesis of N-containing organic compounds. Thus, microbes compete with crops for nitrogen. Some of the N applied to the soil with the fertilizer is lost by agroecosystems as nitrate (NO3-) by leaching and gases, mainly ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O). N loss as N2O is due to biological transformations, such as nitrification and denitrification. In the last decades, many natural or synthetic molecules have been identified as potential substances inhibiting N loss from agricultural soils. These substances, when added to fertilizer, act as antimicrobials by inhibiting soil microbe growth and reducing N2O production.

This Special Issue will accept reviews, as well as full or short research papers, from a broad scope of interdisciplinary research on antimicrobials in the context of the nitrogen cycle in agroecosystems.

Research papers on the following topics are particularly welcome:

  • development of new antimicrobials inhibiting nitrification and denitrification
  • biological nitrification/denitrification inhibition
  • effects of antimicrobials on soil microbial community structure and function

Dr. Luca Vitale
Dr. Giuseppe Giuseppe Maglione
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • natural, semi-synthetic, and synthetic antimicrobials
  • biological nitrification or denitrification inhibition
  • ecotoxicity of antimicrobials
  • nitrogen use efficiency
  • fertilizers added with inhibitors

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1357 KiB  
Article
Anaerobic Digestion and Removal of Sulfamethoxazole, Enrofloxacin, Ciprofloxacin and Their Antibiotic Resistance Genes in a Full-Scale Biogas Plant
by Andrea Visca, Anna Barra Caracciolo, Paola Grenni, Luisa Patrolecco, Jasmin Rauseo, Giulia Massini, Valentina Mazzurco Miritana and Francesca Spataro
Antibiotics 2021, 10(5), 502; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics10050502 - 28 Apr 2021
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 4626
Abstract
Anaerobic digestion is one of the best ways to re-use animal manure and agricultural residues, through the production of combustible biogas and digestate. However, the use of antibiotics for preventing and treating animal diseases and, consequently, their residual concentrations in manure, could introduce [...] Read more.
Anaerobic digestion is one of the best ways to re-use animal manure and agricultural residues, through the production of combustible biogas and digestate. However, the use of antibiotics for preventing and treating animal diseases and, consequently, their residual concentrations in manure, could introduce them into anaerobic digesters. If the digestate is applied as a soil fertilizer, antibiotic residues and/or their corresponding antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) could reach soil ecosystems. This work investigated three common soil emerging contaminants, i.e., sulfamethoxazole (SMX), ciprofloxacin (CIP), enrofloxacin (ENR), their ARGs sul1, sul2, qnrS, qepA, aac-(6′)-Ib-cr and the mobile genetic element intI1, for one year in a full scale anaerobic plant. Six samplings were performed in line with the 45-day hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the anaerobic plant, by collecting input and output samples. The overall results show both antibiotics and ARGs decreased during the anaerobic digestion process. In particular, SMX was degraded by up to 100%, ENR up to 84% and CIP up to 92%, depending on the sampling time. In a similar way, all ARGs declined significantly (up to 80%) in the digestate samples. This work shows how anaerobic digestion can be a promising practice for lowering antibiotic residues and ARGs in soil. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobial Substances and Nitrogen Cycle in Agro-Ecosystems)
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10 pages, 895 KiB  
Article
Effects of On-Farm Dairy Manure Composting on Tetracycline Content and Nutrient Composition
by Jenna Schueler, Kayla Naas, Jerod Hurst, Diana Aga and Stephanie Lansing
Antibiotics 2021, 10(4), 443; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics10040443 - 15 Apr 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3228
Abstract
This study quantified the potential of farm-scale composting to degrade antibiotics in dairy manure. The compost windrow, consisting of sick cow bedding from a 1000-cow US dairy farm, was managed using the dairy farm’s typical practices and monitored for tetracycline and nutrient composition. [...] Read more.
This study quantified the potential of farm-scale composting to degrade antibiotics in dairy manure. The compost windrow, consisting of sick cow bedding from a 1000-cow US dairy farm, was managed using the dairy farm’s typical practices and monitored for tetracycline and nutrient composition. Samples were collected over 33 days, which was the time from compost pile formation to land application as fertilizer, and analyzed for solids, antibiotics, and nutrient content. Average tetracycline concentrations at the beginning of the study (452 ng/g DW) were lower than at the end of composting (689 ng/g DW), illustrating that antibiotic degradation was not greater than degradation of the compost solids. Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) increased from 15.3 to 18.4 g/kg during the composting period due to decreases in solids and likely inhibition of N-mineralization due to the presence of antibiotics. The results indicated that antibiotics were not completely degraded when using the farm’s compost pile management techniques, with antibiotics possibly impacting nitrogen transformation in the compost, which should be considered in nutrient management when using sick cow bedding. Additionally, the results showed that antibiotic degradation during farm-scale composting can vary from reported laboratory-scale due to differences in management, composting duration, and temporal conditions, illustrating the need for more extensive on-farm research including common farm practices and real-world conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobial Substances and Nitrogen Cycle in Agro-Ecosystems)
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