Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Effects of Cattle Manure Handling and Management Strategies on Fate and Transport of Hormones in the Feedlot and the Field
EPA Grant Number: R833423Title: Effects of Cattle Manure Handling and Management Strategies on Fate and Transport of Hormones in the Feedlot and the Field
Investigators: Snow, Daniel , Zhang, Tian C. , Shapiro, Charles , Shelton, David , Bartelt-Hunt, Shannon , Mader, Terry , Kranz, William
Institution: University of Nebraska at Lincoln
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2009 (Extended to June 30, 2011)
Project Amount: $699,607
RFA: Fate and Effects of Hormones in Waste from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOS) (2006) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Endocrine Disruptors , Human Health , Safer Chemicals
Objective:
The objectives of this research project are to (1) quantify hormones in various stages of the manure pathway in cattle feedlots, (2) determine the effects of different handling practices of cattle feedlot wastes on the stability and availability of hormones in cattle feedlots, (3) determine the effects of different land application strategies on the fate and transport of hormones used in beef cattle production in vadose zone soils, and (4) determine if grasses from conservation buffers assimilate hormones.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
This project was organized into several tasks directed at the objectives above and to provide some direct assessment of the occurrence fate and transport of natural and synthetic steroid hormones and growth promoters in cattle waste. Effects of manure management (stockpiling versus composting) and tillage practices on steroid hormone fate and occurrence were evaluated through both field and laboratory experiments. Hundreds of water, soil and plant samples were collected and analyzed to evaluate possible impacts from natural and synthetic steroid hormones during manure collection and application in agricultural settings. A major task involved increasing our understanding of hormone occurrence and potential losses to run-off in cattle feeding operations. Two separate controlled studies show that comparable levels of endogenous hormones, steroid transformation products, and a variety of related compounds are likely to likely to occur in manure and feedlot run-off. Growth promoting compounds also occur on feedlot surfaces and may be transport through run-off, though the levels decrease over time after treatment especially in surface environments. The effect of manure stockpiling versus composting on steroid hormone levels was evaluated using manure from each feeding pen study. In general, concentrations of extractable steroid hormones decreased during both stockpiling and composting though the latter seems to provide a better environment for transformation. Experiments with laboratory bioreactors confirm that specific steroid hormones are degraded more rapidly under aerobic conditions. The results suggest that manure composting, often used as a means to improve the quality of the material for use as a soil conditioner, also can be explored as a means to reduce release of hormones to the environment. Because hormones can attach to soil particles the effect of sorption and desorption was evaluated through additional laboratory experiments. Degradation of steroid hormones in soils and manure will be affected by degree and rate of adsorption and desorption. The sorption experiments indicate that desorption is important in determining the mobility and presumably degradability of these compounds in the environment.
A second major effort was directed at examining the losses of steroid hormones from soils fertilized with manure under differing tillage practices. The manure used in each set of crop surface run-off experiments had been composted or stockpiled for several months prior to its use in the tillage effect experiments. Steroid hormone levels in this material, applied at agronomic rates consistent with best management practices, were greatly reduced over freshly deposited manure. Only a small fraction of the samples collected and analyzed in the first year’s crop run-off studies contained detectable levels of any of the compound measured. Because of this, the relationship of tillage practices (incorporation versus surface application) could not be accessed from these experiments. The following year, smaller scale run-off experiments were conducted with the additional application of a synthetic estrogen to help evaluate potential losses of steroid hormones. Though not manure-borne, the synthetic compound would be expected to behave in a similar manner to natural estrogens. Concentrations of the synthetic estrogen were easily measured in the second set of run-off experiments and showed significant differences between incorporated and surface applied manure. Traces of several other steroid hormones were detected and were generally higher in the runoff from the surface applied test plots. Though site specific, these results suggest incorporation may be explored as a method for reducing losses of manure-associated steroid hormones in surface run-off from fields receiving manure. Because the concentrations measured were exceedingly low regardless of the treatment, however, additional work is needed to establish this as a recommended management practice.
Vertical leaching of hormones over time from soils was examined using additional test plots fertilized with stockpiled or composted manure and planted with wheat. These plots received portions of the same stockpiled or composted manure containing low steroid hormone levels used in the first run-off simulation study. An inert tracer, added to measure vertical transport times from the surface, was observed in pore water samples collected from beneath the test plots approximately 1-year after manure application. Most of the samples collected over the study period did not have measurable levels of steroid hormone, though a few compounds were briefly detected at approximately the same time as the tracer. Because the levels in the applied manure were already quite low, it is likely that dilution and/or degradation at the surface resulted in undetectable levels of hormones below the crop rooting zone. In contrast to hormones, levels of nitrate and other nutrients increased in the pore water at approximately the same time as the inert tracer indicating other contaminants may be transported from the surface. The final objective of this research was to evaluate plant uptake of manure-borne steroid hormones in grasses fertilized with manure. The task associated with the objective used stockpiled manure collected from the first feeding pen study to fertilize warm and cool season grasses commonly used in crop buffers. As with the leaching study, this manure was applied at agronomic rates and had relatively low levels of steroid hormones in comparison to freshly deposited cattle waste.
Conclusions:
Few papers have described analysis of grasses for steroid hormones and the laboratory methods proved to be more challenging than even the complex manure matrix. Though significant levels of some steroid hormones were detected in the grasses, it s difficult to determine if these are derived from manure application or from other sources. Recent research suggests that mammalian hormones, along with phytoestrogenic compounds, may occur naturally in plants. No samples provided evidence of uptake of synthetic steroid hormones by the grasses.
Journal Articles on this Report : 4 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 14 publications | 4 publications in selected types | All 4 journal articles |
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Bartelt-Hunt SL, Devivo S, Johnson L, Snow DD, Kranz WL, Mader TL, Shapiro CA, van Donk SJ, Shelton DP, Tarkalson DD, Zhang TC. Effect of composting on the fate of steroids in beef cattle manure. Journal of Environmental Quality 2013;42(4):1159-1166. |
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Biswas S, Kranz WL, Shapiro CA, Mamo M, Bartelt-Hunt SL, Snow DD, Shelton DP, Tarkalson DD, Mader TL, van Donk SJ, Zhang TC. Use of a surrogate to evaluate the impact of tillage on the transport of steroid hormones from manure-amended agricultural field. Transactions of the ASABE 2013;56(4):1379-1385. |
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Snow DD, Damon-Powell T, Onanong S, Cassada DA. Sensitive and simplified analysis of natural and synthetic steroids in water and solids using on-line solid-phase extraction and microwave-assisted solvent extraction coupled to liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry atmospheric pressure photoionization. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2013;405(5):1759-1771. |
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van Donk SJ, Biswas S, Kranz WL, Snow DD, Bartelt-Hunt SL, Mader TL, Shapiro CA, Shelton DP, Tarkalson DD, Zhang TC, Ensley S. Transport of steroid hormones in the vadose zone after land application of beef cattle manure.Transactions of the ASABE 2013;56(4):1327-1338. |
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Supplemental Keywords:
estradiol, estrogen, androgen, endocrine disruption; scientific discipline, health, endocrine disruptors - environmental exposure & risk, environmental chemistryProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.