Exposure of a Tropical Soil to mg/kg of Oxytetracycline Elicits Hormetic Responses in the Catabolic Activities of its Microbial Community

Abstract

Many farmers in developing countries protect their crops with oxytetracycline and fertilize their farmlands with manure from animals that received this drug as growth promoter. In this study, a tropical soil was exposed to 0.1 mg kg−1, 1 mg kg−1, and 10 mg kg−1 of oxytetracycline for 22 days to evaluate whether this antibiotic alters the capacity of a soil microbial community to metabolize 31 carbon sources. The communities exposed to 1 and 10 mg kg−1 of oxytetracycline exhibited reduced catabolic activities for 3 and 6 substrates, respectively. In contrast, the communities exposed to 0.1 mg kg−1 of oxytetracycline showed higher catabolic activities than the controls and the other two treatments for 19 substrates. These data reveal a hormetic response at the community level not previously described for soil bacteria and oxytetracycline.