Effects and mechanisms of aquatic landscape plants on the removal of veterinary antibiotics from hydroponic solutions.

Four aquatic landscape plants and three veterinary antibiotics were selected to construct a hydroponic test system to analyze the tolerance, removal effect and mechanism of antibiotics. The results indicated that antibiotic concentrations from 0 to 100 μg·L promoted plant heights and leaf chlorophyll contents, while antibiotics at concentrations > 100 μg·L had inhibitory effects. The ability of different plants to remove antibiotics was L. > L. > Fraser > (Timm) DC. The plants with the best removal of norfloxacin, sulfadimethoxine and chlortetracycline were L., L. and L. after 12 d of hydroponic cultivation using 100 μg·L antibiotics, with removal rates of 66.6%, 63.0% and 63.2%, respectively. The accumulation of antibiotics in different plant tissues was root > stem > leaf and the accumulation increased with incubation time. The diversity of plant root biofilm microorganisms decreased with increasing treatment concentrations of antibiotics, while the abundance of dominant genera (, , , , and ) showed an increasing trend. The findings imply that the antibiotic uptake by plants and the dynamics of the rhizosphere microbial community combine to promote antibiotic removal.