Role of Different Doses of Fertilizers for Antibiotic Toxicity Alleviation in Rice Crop

Abstract

Antibiotics are being released to the environment through different sources which are now being considered as emerging environmental pollutants. Unfortunately, in countries like Pakistan, this untreated water is used for irrigation of crops and these antibiotics are adsorbed into soil and are taken up by plants. The principal goal of this study was to assess the impacts of five antibiotics (ampicillin, amoxicillin, levofloxacin, ofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin) on plants and antibiotic stress alleviation through application of different doses of NPK fertilizers. A pot test was done with rice (Oryza sativa L.) as model plant. Effects of five antibiotics applied @ 5 mg kg-1 were detected in the presence of three different doses (0.5 of recommended dose, RD and 1.5 of recommended dose) of NPK fertilizers. In pot experiment, antibiotics and doses of NPK were applied to 3-weeks old seedlings and after four months, plants were harvested. Plants were analyzed for physiological parameters (shoot length & biomass) nutritional parameters (phosphorous, potassium, sodium, iron, and carbohydrates) and toxicity parameters (root membrane integrity, conductivity assay, lipid peroxidation, hydrogen peroxide). Results indicated that shoot biomass was decreased by 33% by ampicillin treatment at 0.5 dose of NPK while 17% decreased shoot length was recorded in amoxicillin treated plants at recommended dose of NPK. Significant decline (p < 0.05) in concentration of phosphorous, iron, carbohydrates, sodium and potassium was observed by 22%, 71%, 15%, 27% and 53%, respectively, upon application of different antibiotics at 0.5 of recommended dose of NPK. Maximum toxicity was seen in levofloxacin treated plants while significant alleviation in toxicity was observed by 1.5 of RD of NPK. From the results, it is concluded that increased dose of NPK can contribute in alleviation of toxicity due to exposure to antibiotics.