Occurrence of antibiotics in Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) following organic soil fertilisation under plot-scale conditions: Crop and human health implications

Recent studies have demonstrated the crop uptake of antibiotics (ABs) from soils treated with AB-carrying fertilisers. However, there is a lack of plot-scale studies linking their effects at the agronomic and metabolomic/transcriptomic level to their impact on human health. This paper assesses the plant uptake of 23 ABs following two productive cycles of lettuce and radish cropped with sewage sludge, pig slurry, the organic fraction of municipal solid waste, or chemical fertilisation under plot-scale conditions (32 plots spanning 3-10 m2 each). AB uptake by plants depended on both the vegetable and the AB class and was higher in radish than in lettuce edible parts. Levels ranged from undetectable to up to 76 ng/g (fresh weight). Repetitive organic fertilisation resulted in an increase in the concentration of ABs in lettuce leaves, but not in radish roots. Significant metabolomic and transcriptomic changes were observed following soil fertilisation. Nevertheless, a human health risk assessment indicates that the occurrence of ABs in lettuce or radish edible parts does not pose any risk. To our knowledge, this is the first holistic plot-scale study demonstrating that the use of organic fertilisers containing ABs is safe for crop security and human health.

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through projects AGL2017-89518-R and RTI2018-096175-B-I00. IDAEA-CSIC is a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Project CEX2018-000794-S). Mònica Escolà Casas wishes to thank the Beatriu de Pinós 2018 grant programme (MSCA grant agreement number 801370) for the funding.

Peer reviewed