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Marine and Freshwater Research Marine and Freshwater Research Society
Advances in the aquatic sciences
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Antibiotic pollution and risk assessment under different cultivation modes in aquaculture ponds of the Taihu Lake Basin, China

Yan Yan A , Yang Deng A , Min Ji A , Xiaoguang Xu https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2952-7212 A B , Limin Zhang A and Guoxiang Wang A
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- Author Affiliations

A School of Environment, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, PR China.

B Corresponding author. Email: xxg05504118@163.com

Marine and Freshwater Research 71(10) 1234-1240 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF19224
Submitted: 27 June 2019  Accepted: 17 December 2019   Published: 28 February 2020

Abstract

Although antibiotics are widely used in aquaculture ponds, their environmental fates and ecological risks are still not fully understood. In this study, the occurrence and spatial distribution of antibiotics in 10 aquaculture ponds, using three different cultivation modes, were investigated in Taihu Lake Basin, China. In total, 10 antibiotics belonging to four classes were measured. Sulfonamides were the most prevalent, with the concentration of sulfamethoxazole being the highest at 426.53 μg L–1; all other antibiotic concentrations ranged from undetectable to 132.83 μg L–1. There were significant differences in total antibiotic burdens among different regions, including in sulfonamides, fluoroquinolones, macrolides and tetracyclines. There were also differences among cultivation modes; antibiotics were most abundant in fish ponds, which had concentrations an order of magnitude higher than those in crab and crab–shrimp ponds. Results of risk-quotient (RQ) analysis indicated that all of the antibiotics, expect roxithromycin, posed a high risk to algae, with the values exceeding 1. These findings suggest that the reasonable control of antibiotic usage is necessary to preserve human safety and the health of the aquatic ecosystem.

Additional keywords: aquaculture, antibiotic usage, region.


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