Instability of chlorophyll in yellow lupin seedlings grown in soil contaminated with ciprofloxacin and tetracycline

•The deteriorative effect of antibiotics on chlorophyll was measured in lupin seedlings and in a simplified ex vivo system.•The order of chlorophyll breakdown reaction and the reaction constant were determined.•The relation was established between the content of chlorophyll in plants and soil cyprofloxacin or tetracycline.

With increasing soil concentrations of ciprofloxacin and tetracycline a decrease of leaf chlorophyll content was observed. Tetracycline was more detrimental than ciprofloxacin. The chlorophyll content in plants growing for ten days on a tetracycline containing soil decreased by 68%. The decrease of chlorophyll concentration was even sharper in new leaves that formed after application of the antibiotic (up to 81% drop). The comparison of absorption spectra of commercial, reagent grade chlorophyll, alone and incubated with antibiotics, has shown that ciprofloxacin and tetracycline can react directly with chlorophyll and decrease its concentration by 47.7% and 48.5%, respectively. The changes in fluorescence spectra confirmed the formation of chlorophyll degradation product. The chlorophyll decay was a second order reaction and depended on antibiotic concentration and duration of exposure. Reaction rate constants differed with antibiotics and their soil concentrations. With increasing contents of antibiotics in soil the constant of chlorophyll degradation rate in lupin plants increased from k = 870 M−1day−1 for 3 mg ciprofloxacin to k = 2490 M−1day−1 for 90 mg ciprofloxacin, and in the case of tetracycline the reaction rate constant increased from k = 1330 M−1day−1 to k = 2910 M−1day−1. The sensitivity of chlorophyll to ciprofloxacin and tetracycline was confirmed by determining EC and TU indices.