Anaerobic digestion reduces veterinary ionophore lasalocid in dairy manure

Lasalocid is an antibiotic from the group of carboxylic ionophores, and it is commonly used in cattle and poultry as a coccidiostat and for growth promotion. The widespread use and persistence of lasalocid have led to its detection in the environment. The objective of this study was to determine the fate and effect of veterinary ionophore lasalocid during the anaerobic digestion of dairy manure. Duplicate plug flow field-scale digesters were operated using either non-amended dairy manure or dairy manure amended with 1 or 5 mg/L lasalocid. Results showed that lasalocid was reduced approximately 75% during anaerobic digestion. Methane production from digesters treating manure amended with 1 and 5 mg/L lasalocid were comparable with CH₄ production from the duplicate digesters operated without added lasalocid. These results suggest that anaerobic digestion can be used to reduce lasalocid levels in dairy manure, and lasalocid did not affect digester stability at concentrations expected in dairy manure.