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Ecological response to antibiotics re-entering the aquaculture environment with possible long-term antibiotics selection based on enzyme activity in sediment

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Abstract

Antibiotics are frequently applied in aquaculture to control infectious diseases and promote aquaculture production. The long-term application of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic resistance within an ecosystem. Herein, we assessed the ecological responses to two antibiotics (oxytetracycline (OTC) and sulfadiazine (SD)) at three concentrations (0 mg/kg (control), 10 mg/kg, and 1000 mg/kg) re-entering the aquaculture sediments of shrimp ponds with an approximately long-term drug application history (5, 15, and more than 30 years) for 2 and 4 months. For the newly reclaimed aquaculture ponds (approximately 5 years), the re-entered OTC significantly promoted urease activity (UA) and peroxidase activity (POA), while inhibited dehydrogenase activity (DHA) and fluorescein diacetate esterase activity (FDA). Meanwhile, the re-entered SD showed promotional effects on POA and DHA, and inhibitory effects on UA and FDA. For ponds with 15 years of aquaculture history, re-entered OTC promoted POA, inhibited FDA, and changed the influencing effects of UA and DHA with exposure time. The re-entered SD showed promotional effects on UA, POA and DHA, and inhibitory effects on FDA. For long-term aquaculture ponds (more than 30 years of aquaculture history), re-entered OTC promoted POA, DHA, and FDA, while it inhibited UA. Meanwhile, SD promoted all four enzyme activities. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that the variances of enzyme responses to the re-entry of antibiotics in the three sediment environments were related with the type, concentration, and exposure time of antibiotics, as well as the sediment properties and aquaculture history. The enzyme activities in the sediment environment from newly reclaimed aquaculture ponds were more sensitive to the re-entered antibiotics, while the enzyme activities displayed a clear tolerance in the sediment environment with more than 30 years of aquaculture history. However, in the sediment environment with 15 years of aquaculture history, the response of the enzyme activities to re-entered antibiotics demonstrated time processes of antibiotic adaptation during antibiotic resistance selection. This study has illustrated the effects of re-entered antibiotics on enzyme activities in the aquaculture environment with long-term antibiotic resistance/tolerance profiles, and further establishes the possible effects on ecosystem functioning in continuous antibiotic selection pressure.

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The data sets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on request.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41671495, 41301572) and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in Fujian Province University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources and Environmental Science, Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, 362000, China

    Ying Feng, Juncong Hu, Yongshan Chen, Jinghua Xu & Benfan Yang

  2. Institute of Environmental Sciences, Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, 362000, China

    Ying Feng, Yongshan Chen & Jinghua Xu

  3. Guangxi Scientific Experiment Center of Mining, Metallurgy and Environment, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, People’s Republic of China

    Jinping Jiang

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  1. Ying Feng
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CYS designed the work plan, HJC, XJH, and YBF performed all experiments, and FY and CYS analyzed the data and wrote manuscript. JJP helped in modifying this manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yongshan Chen.

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Feng, Y., Hu, J., Chen, Y. et al. Ecological response to antibiotics re-entering the aquaculture environment with possible long-term antibiotics selection based on enzyme activity in sediment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 19033–19044 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17114-0

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