Sulfadiazine uptake and effects in common hazel (Corylus avellana L.)

Soil contamination by antibiotics is a possible consequence of animal husbandry waste, sewage sludge, and reclaimed water spreading in agriculture. In this study, 1-year-old hazel plants (Corylus avellana L.) were grown in pots for 64 days in soil spiked with sulfadiazine (SDZ) in the range 0.01-100 mg kg(-1) soil. Leaf gas exchanges, fluorescence parameters and plant growth were measured regularly during the experiment, whereas plant biomass, sulfonamide concentrations in soil and plant tissues, and the quantitative variation of culturable bacterial endophytes in leaf petiole were analyzed at the end of the trial. During the experiment, photosynthesis and leaf transpiration as well as fluorescence parameters were progressively reduced by the antibiotic. Effects were more evident for leaf transpiration and for the highest SDZ spiking concentrations, whereas growth analyses did not reveal negative effects of the antibiotic. At the end of the trial, a high number of culturable endophytic bacteria in the leaf petiole of plants treated with 0.1 and 0.01 mg kg(-1) were observed, and SDZ was extractable from soil and plant roots for spiking concentrations ≥1 mg kg(-1). Inside plants, the antibiotic was mainly stored at the root level with bioconcentration factors increasing with the spiking dose, and the hydroxylated derivate 4-OH-SDZ was the only metabolite detected. Overall results show that 1-year-old hazel plants can contribute to the reduction of sulfonamide concentrations in the environment, however, sensitive reactions to SDZ can be expected at the highest contamination levels.

Accumulation and response of willow plants exposed to environmental relevant sulfonamide concentrations

As a result of manure application to arable lands, agricultural ecosystems are often contaminated by veterinary antibiotics. In this study the aptitude of Salix fragilis L. to accumulate and tolerate sulfadimethoxine (SDM) was evaluated, together with the antibiotic effects on the plant development, with particular attention focused on roots. Results showed an antibiotic presence in root tissues, but not in leaves, after one month of SDM exposure to 0.01, 0.1, 1 and 10 mg l(-1). A hormetic growth of the hypogeal system was observed, however stress symptoms on the root development were only noticed after treatment to the highest dose. Results obtained from a second test, where new cuttings were exposed to 10 mg SDM l(-1) for different periods, suggested that willow tolerance to SDM increased with the exposure duration, probably because of the onset of particular acclimation mechanisms. Therefore, the present work indicates that this woody species could be utilized in the phytoremediation of sulfonamide antibiotics at doses comparable to that found in agricultural ecosystems once obtained appropriate confirmations through future studies at a laboratory and field scale.

Structural and functional alterations induced by two sulfonamide antibiotics on barley plants

Synthetic veterinary medicines are introduced routinely in the environment after animal treatment to prevent and control infectious diseases and up to 80% the administered dose can be excreted unaltered. As a consequence, the soil is the environment most contaminated by such molecules. However, information about their implications on the growth of vegetal organisms is still scarce. With the aim of better elucidating the effects of veterinary antibiotics on plants, barley was grown in a nutrient solution containing 40 μM (about 11,500 μg L(-1)) of two well-known sulfonamide antibiotics, sulfadimethoxine (SDM) and sulfamethazine (SZ). After 15 d of treatment, the effects on root apparatus were particularly evident, while the photosynthetic tissues remained almost unaffected. SDM and SZ stimulated root hairs and lateral root development a few mm behind the root tips. In particular, from a structural point of view, treated plants showed root shortening and an advanced differentiation in comparison to controls, later confirmed using light microscopy. At a functional level, the two active molecules were found to induce root electrolyte release, such as K(+), possibly due to an impairment of membrane permeability. The research concludes that sulfonamides can have profound effects on morphology and functionality of roots of crop plants. As these alterations might have consequences on their productivity, further studies are necessary to assess effects on plants at laboratory and field conditions.

The impact of root temperature on photosynthesis and isoprene emission in three different plant species

Most of the perennial plant species, particularly trees, emit volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) such as isoprene and monoterpenes, which in several cases have been demonstrated to protect against thermal shock and more generally against oxidative stress. In this paper, we show the response of three strong isoprene emitter species, namely, Phragmites australis, Populus x euramericana, and Salix phylicifolia exposed to artificial or natural warming of the root system in different conditions. This aspect has not been investigated so far while it is well known that warming the air around a plant stimulates considerably isoprene emission, as also shown in this paper. In the green house experiments where the warming corresponded with high stress conditions, as confirmed by higher activities of the main antioxidant enzymes, we found that isoprene uncoupled from photosynthesis at a certain stage of the warming treatment and that even when photosynthesis approached to zero isoprene emission was still ongoing. In the field experiment, in a typical cold-limited environment, warming did not affect isoprene emission whereas it increased significantly CO₂ assimilation. Our findings suggest that the increase of isoprene could be a good marker of heat stress, whereas the decrease of isoprene a good marker of accelerated foliar senescence, two hypotheses that should be better investigated in the future.

Accumulation and effects of sulfadimethoxine in Salix fragilis L. plants: a preliminary study to phytoremediation purposes

The application of manure to fertilize arable lands is one of the major means through which veterinary sulfonamides (SAs) enter the environment. Little is known about the capacity of woody plants to phytoremediate this class of antibiotics. To this purpose we performed preliminary studies to evaluate Salix fragilis L. response to sulfadimethoxine (SDM) by investigating both its ability to absorb and tolerate doses of SDM found in fresh faeces of treated calves. Forty cuttings were exposed to either 0, 0.5, 1, or 2 mM of SDM for one month. Decreases in photosynthetic electron transport rate and net CO2 assimilation after 25 days for the higher SDM concentrations were noticed. Moreover, alterations in root morphology of treated plants were observed and further investigated through electron microscopy. However, collected data revealed high root accumulation potential. These preliminary results are promising as they demonstrate that Salix fragilis L. can both absorb and tolerate high concentrations of SAs.