Soil and Water Management Factors That Affect Plant Uptake of Pharmaceuticals: A Case Study

Abstract

Water and food security are of global concern. Improving knowledge on crops’ potential uptake of pharmaceutical compounds (PhCs) is necessary to guarantee consumer health and improve the public’s perception of reclaimed water reuse. This study aimed to determine how water management (bottom-up applied for being supplied by Subsurface Drip Irrigation) and the plant rhizosphere effect on the uptake of PhCs. Five PhCs were mixed: atenolol, carbamazepine, dicoflenac, ibuprofen and valsartan. A total of 5 treatments were considered: 3 concentrations of PhCs in agricultural volcanic soil: 0.1, 10 and 100 µg·L−1; 0.1 µg·L−1 in sterilized soil; and a blank with three plant replications at 30, 45, and 60 days after emerging. The maximum quantity of the added PhCs was 100 µg·kg soil−1. A variant of the QuEChERS method was followed to extract PhCs from samples. The limits of quantification were between 10 ng·L−1 and 100 ng·L−1 in extracts. No PhCs over the limits of detection were detected (0.06–0.6 µg·kg−1 of dry plant sample). Hence, the described water reuse methodology poses a negligible consumer risk, which contrasts with hydroponic systems in which this risk has been shown. The results are discussed in terms of the effects of irrigation system, water management and the soil-plant barrier.