Source: Institute of Urban Environment,Chinese Academy of Sciences

With the rapid growth of the aquaculture industry on a global scale, more and more drugs are used to prevent and treat diseases and to promote growth by breeding. The aquaculture industry has become one of the key areas in the global spread of antimicrobial resistance.

In view of this, the Watershed (Wetland) Ecology and Environment Research Group of the Key Laboratory of Urban and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences took a tilapia breeding base in southern my country as the research object, and used a variety of testing programs (6 categories of 86 drugs) ) Explore the drug residue spectrum in its sediments and corresponding feeds. 36 and 16 drugs were quantified in sediment and feed samples, respectively. In sediments, half of the quantified compounds are antibiotics, mainly sulfonamides and quinolones, and both contain large amounts of salicylic acid. In 10 sealed feed samples, high residual levels of quinolone antibiotics and salicylic acid were detected. In the 7 open bag feed samples, a large amount of tetracycline antibiotics (single or mixed use) were detected.

The results showed that the source of antibiotics in the sediment was not only caused by the preventive antibacterial agents added to the feed, but also related to the contaminated water source and the use of therapeutic veterinary antibiotics. Even if antibiotic-free feed is available on the market, there is still the phenomenon of adding antibiotics privately before use. Therefore, adopting methods to control the abuse of human antibiotics and prescribing veterinary antibiotics to reduce the use of antibiotics may be an important way to reduce the abuse of antibiotics in aquaculture. At the same time, the use of alternatives to antibiotics, such as salicylic acid-rich herbs and effective microorganisms or enzymes, may be a solution to reduce or even reach aquaculture that does not use antibiotics in the future. In addition, this study found two endocrine compounds in sediment and feed samples, which may be a signal of endocrine drug abuse, or another evidence of cross-contamination in aquaculture. This study is expected to provide a basis for the use of antibiotics and their substitutes as well as unauthorized drugs in tilapia breeding bases in my country, and to provide support for the implementation of strict aquaculture pharmaceutical regulations in China and even the world.

Related research results are published on "Environmental Pollution" under the title "Antibiotics control in aquaculture requires more than antibiotic-free feeds: A tilapia farming case". The research was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Paper link:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115854

Graph of drug residue levels in tilapia pond sediments and feed samples

Source: http://www.cas.cn/syky/202011/t20201104_4765339.shtml

Disclaimer: This article is translated by cpolymer. The translation is for reference only. All contents are subject to the original text.