Understanding the risks of antibiotics released from livestock on agricultural productivity: Evidence from mung bean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] pot experiment

Abstract

Antibiotics of veterinary origin are generally released to agricultural fields via grazing animals or manure. Antibiotics can also be delivered to agricultural lands by reclaimed wastewater irrigation as they have been found in both raw and processed sewage effluents. Possible effects of antibiotics on crop plants, particularly of mung bean (Vigna radiata cv. NM-11) were investigated in the present study. A pot experiment comprising four different treatments (0, 1 µg L^-1, 5 µg L^-1, and 10 µg L^-1) of amoxicillin was carried out under natural atmospheric conditions. Five applications each of 200 mL of different concentrations of amoxicillin and one concentration of distilled water (control) were administered at two leaf stage onwards to the respective groups of mung bean plants. The effects of amoxicillin were assessed on the post-germination traits (agronomic parameters) of mung bean during ontogenesis and at the time of full development. The antibiotic adversely affected the plant agronomic traits which were determined twice at four-week intervals. The amoxicillin, even in small concentrations, adversely affected the growth as well as yield parameters of mung bean plants. Moreover, varying concentrations of amoxicillin used in the experiment also declined chlorophyll biosynthesis especially at the later stages of plant development.