Research Accomplishment Reports 2011

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Evaluating the Physical and Biological Availability of Pesticides and Contaminants in Agricultural Ecosystems (from W1082)

E. M. D'Angelo
Department of Plant and Soil Sciences

 

Non-Technical Summary

The driving force for this research is that antibiotics are widely used in the feed by livestock industry, which is growing rapidly in KY. The manure generated from these facilities contains antibiotics. The manure is amended to soils to increase fertility. The downside is that the antibiotics in the manure antibiotics will remain in solution and migrate to surface water and groundwater. Moreover, it is possible that the antibiotics will affect microbial populations in soil and their ability to conduct key biogeochemical processes, such as those involved in the nitrogen cycle. All of these possibilities will be evaluated in this project.