Biochar-mediated sorption of antibiotics in pig manure.

Using manure contaminated with antibiotics as fertilizer is a primary source of soil pollution with antibiotics and concomitantly with antibiotic resistance genes (ARG). Bioavailable antibiotics trigger further ARG amplification during manure storage. Consequently it is aimed to facilitate the immobilization of antibiotics in manure. To this end, five biochars derived from pine cone (BCP), rice husk, sewage sludge, digestate and Miscanthus were tested as additional sorbents in liquid pig manure for sulfamethazine, ciprofloxacin, oxytetracycline and florfenicol. Non-linear sorption was best-fit using the Freundlich isotherm (R2 > 0.82) and the pseudo-second-order model best described sorption kinetics (R2 > 0.94). Antibiotics' sorption onto manure increased in the order sulfamethazine < florfenicol < ciprofloxacin < oxytetracycline. Admixtures of BCP to manure changed the order to sulfamethazine < oxytetracycline < florfenicol = ciprofloxacin. Generally, with the addition of biochar, sorption coefficients of florfenicol increased most (by factors>2.7) followed by sulfamethazine and ciprofloxacin. Yet, oxytetracycline was mostly mobilized probably due to competitive adsorption. Effects depended on the proportion of biochar added and the type of biochar, whereby plant-derived biochar exhibited better immobilization of antibiotics. Depending on the type and portion of biochar, admixtures to manure can be used to lower the mobility and hence bioavailability of fenicols, fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides.

Native Kenyan plants as possible alternatives to methyl bromide in soil fumigation.

Methyl bromide (CH3Br) is a biocidal fumigant used widely in crop production and commodity preservation worldwide. CH3Br escapes to the stratosphere and releases bromine atom (Br), which contributes to significant destruction of the ozone (O3). It is therefore necessary to explore alternatives to CH3Br that are environmentally safe and suitable for resource-poor African farmers. We present here the results of a study on the inhibitory activity of crude extracts from Kenyan medicinal plants against three soil pathogens, Fusarium oxysporum, Alternaria passiflorae, and Aspergillus niger. Crude organic extracts of Warburgia ugandensis Sprague, Azadirachta indica A. Juss, Tagetes minuta and Urtica massaica were active against all soil pathogens, while those from U. massaica were not. Chromatographic purification of the crude extract of W. ugandensis provided two pure compounds, muzigadial (1) and muzigadiolide (5). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC value) for muzigadial (1) ranged from 5 to 100mug/ml. Muzigadiolide (5) was not active. Greenhouse tests of W. ugandensis extracts against F. oxysporium pathogen showed the most effective inhibitory concentration to be at least 5 mg/ml. Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models were used to rationalize the variation in biological activities of muzigadial (1), warburganal (2), polygodial (3), ugandensidial (4), muzigadiolide (5), azadirachtin (6), and CH3Br. The models were based on several molecular descriptors including LogP, van der Waals surface area (VDW(A)), van der Waals volume (VDW(v)), dipole moment, total energy, polarizability, and differences between the highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO-LUMO gap).