Implication of light sources and microbial activities on degradation of sulfonamides in water and sediment from a marine shrimp pond

In this study, the effects of natural, visible and ultraviolet lights, microbial activities and aerobic and anaerobic conditions on degradation of four different sulfonamide antibiotics (SAs) were studied. Water and sediment collected from a marine shrimp pond were examined and a factorial design was employed to evaluate the effects of selected parameters. The results showed that all the SAs in water and sediment had significant declines attributed to natural light and microbial activities. The half-lives (t1/2s) of SAs in non-sterile water and sediment samples under natural light were 2.0-15.0 and 0.7-7.3 days, respectively, and slowed to 2.9-62.9 and 6.9-85.6 days after sterilized. Moreover, the declines of SAs were significantly faster under ultraviolet than visible light with 36.5-70.9% shorter t1/2s. Anaerobic condition was also effective on declines of SAs in sediment. Both sulfate-reducing and methanogenic microbes were directly involved in the decline of SDM, and indirectly contributed to SMX declines.