Algal toxicity of antibacterial agents used in intensive farming

The growth inhibiting effects of eight antibiotics used either therapeutically or as growth promoters in intensive farming on two species of micro algae, Microcystis aeruginosa (freshwater cyanobacteria) and Selenastrum capricornutum (green algae) were investigated. The effects of the antibiotics benzylpenicillin (penicillin G) (BP), chlortetracycline (CTC), olaquindox (O), spiramycin (SP), streptomycin (ST), tetracycline (TC), tiamulin (TI) and tylosin (TY) were tested in accordance with the ISO 8692 (1989) standard protocol. Algal growth was measured as increase in chlorophyll concentration by extraction with ethanol followed by measurement of fluorescence. Results were quantified in terms of growth rates using the Weibull equation to describe the concentration response relationship. The toxicity (EC50 value, mg/l) in alphabetic order were BP (0.006); CTC (0.05); O (5.1); SP (0.005); ST (0.007); TC (0.09); TI (0.003) and TY (0.034) for M. aeruginosa. BP (NOEC = 100); CTC (3.1); O (40); SP (2.3); ST (0.133); TC (2.2); TI (0.165) and TY (1.38) for S. capricornutum. In this investigation M. aeruginosa is found to be about two orders of magnitude more sensitive than S. capricornutum. It was observed that most of the compounds were unstable during the test period due to hydrolysis and photolysis. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.