Yeast estrogen screen assay applied in the assessment of estrogenic activity removal from dairy cattle wastewater treated by anaerobic digestion

João Monteiro Neto; Lorena Gotelip Costalonga; Nathacha Oliveira Pires; Thais Girardi Carpanez; Fernanda Bento Rosa Gomes; Sue Ellen Costa Bottrel; Jonathas Batista Gonçalves Silva; Marcelo Henrique Otenio; Renata de Oliveira Pereira

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168243

Yeast estrogen screen assay applied in the assessment of estrogenic activity removal from dairy cattle wastewater treated by anaerobic digestion

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jan 15:908:168243. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168243. Epub 2023 Nov 6.

Authors

João Monteiro Neto¹, Lorena Gotelip Costalonga², Nathacha Oliveira Pires³, Thais Girardi Carpanez⁴, Fernanda Bento Rosa Gomes⁵, Sue Ellen Costa Bottrel⁶, Jonathas Batista Gonçalves Silva⁷, Marcelo Henrique Otenio⁸, Renata de Oliveira Pereira⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Rua José Lourenço Kelmer, s/n - São Pedro, Juiz de Fora, MG CEP 36036-900, Brazil. Electronic address: joao_monteiro_neto@hotmail.com.
² Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Rua José Lourenço Kelmer, s/n - São Pedro, Juiz de Fora, MG CEP 36036-900, Brazil. Electronic address: lorena.gotelip@engenharia.ufjf.br.
³ Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Rua José Lourenço Kelmer, s/n - São Pedro, Juiz de Fora, MG CEP 36036-900, Brazil. Electronic address: oliveira.pires@engenharia.ufjf.br.
⁴ Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Federal University of Minas Gerais, 6627 Antonio Carlos Avenue, Campus Pampulha, MG, Brazil. Electronic address: tgcarpanez@gmail.com.
⁵ Department of Civil, Faculty of Engineering, Federal University of Juiz de Fora. Rua José Lourenço Kelmer, s/n - São Pedro, Juiz de Fora, MG CEP 36036-900, Brazil. Electronic address: fernanda.bento@engenharia.ufjf.br.
⁶ Faculty of Engineering, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Rua José Lourenço Kelmer, s/n - São Pedro, Juiz de Fora, MG CEP 36036-900, Brazil. Electronic address: sue.bottrel@ufjf.br.
⁷ Faculty of Engineering, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Rua José Lourenço Kelmer, s/n - São Pedro, Juiz de Fora, MG CEP 36036-900, Brazil. Electronic address: jonathas.silva@ufjf.br.
⁸ Researcher at Embrapa Dairy Cattle (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation - Embrapa), Av. Eugênio do Nascimento, 610 - Aeroporto, Juiz de Fora, MG CEP 36038-330, Brazil. Electronic address: marcelo.otenio@embrapa.br.
⁹ Faculty of Engineering, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Rua José Lourenço Kelmer, s/n - São Pedro, Juiz de Fora, MG CEP 36036-900, Brazil. Electronic address: renata.pereira@ufjf.br.

PMID: 37939957
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168243

Abstract

The presence of estrogen-like endocrine disrupting chemicals (EEDC) in surface waters, soils, and groundwater has been frequently reported in the literature. Since these compounds can be excreted by humans and animals, the release of domestic sewage and animal wastewaters may be an important source of EEDC in the environment. In this context, there is a growing concern regarding the presence of these substances in the environment and their potential adverse effects on human health. However, most studies have been focused on the presence of EEDC in domestic wastewaters and the available information regarding EEDC in livestock wastewater is still limited. Therefore, this work aimed to quantify the estrogenic activity (EA) in the liquid phase of dairy cattle wastewaters and evaluate the removal of EA during anaerobic digestion, applying an adapted methodology based on the yeast estrogen screen (YES) assay, which has been widely used to analyze EA in domestic sewage. Influent and effluent dairy cattle wastewater samples from a full-scale anaerobic digester placed in an experimental farm were collected during seven months. EA concentrations in the liquid phase of raw wastewater ranged from 228 to 2182 ng.L^-1 E2-eq. Anaerobic digestion was not efficient in EA removal, achieving effluent concentrations ranging from 109 to 946 ng.L^-1 E2-eq. Results also indicate that the application of an estradiol-based fixed time artificial insemination protocol did not statistically contribute to the increase of EA concentrations in dairy cattle wastewater which reuse in cleaning of animal feeding operation facilities and fertigation are beneficial and economically advantageous to dairy production systems, reducing water demand in parallel to promoting organic matter and nutrient recycling. However, the potential environmental and health risks associated with the presence of EEDC in dairy cattle wastewaters should be better elucidated and evaluated.

Keywords: Animal feeding operations; Endocrine-disrupting chemicals; Estradiol; Hormones; Manure; YES assay.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Animals
Cattle
Estrogens
Estrone / analysis
Humans
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Sewage / chemistry
Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods
Wastewater*
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis

Substances

Wastewater
Sewage
Estrogens
Estrone
Water Pollutants, Chemical