Phytotoxic Effects of Antibiotics on Terrestrial Crop Plants and Wild Plants: A Systematic Review

Abstract

\n This review examines the state of knowledge on the phytotoxic effects of antibiotics on terrestrial crop plants and wild (non-crop) plants with the goal of evaluating differences in their sensitivity. This is important because environmental risk assessments of antibiotics, like assessments of plant protection products, currently consider their potential effects only on crop species but not wild species. We identified 644 articles in various electronic databases that examined the phytotoxic effects of antibiotics on plants. After evaluation based on eligibility criteria, 34 unique studies were selected for further analysis. Data from standardised assays (ASTM, OECD, EPA, ISTA) were evaluated, and assay characteristics (short-term germination and long-term plant growth) as well as toxicity endpoints (seed germination and plant growth - elongation and biomass) were taken into account. Overall, we analysed 281 datasets consisting of antibiotic-plant species-endpoint combinations for germination (mg/L) and 192 datasets for plant growth (mg/kg). We found that < 1% of the data in each dataset were from wild species. Among the most sensitive species, geometric mean values of endpoints showed that wild species were more sensitive, especially with respect to vegetative ecotoxicological endpoints such as biomass. However, available data on wild species are still insufficient to draw definitive conclusions. Further work must be conducted to gain a better understanding of the phytotoxic effects of antibiotics on terrestrial wild plants and subsequently assess whether the current approach to environmental risk assessment of antibiotics is sufficient to protect plant biodiversity.