ORITATE Fumiko, FUJIKAWA Yoko, FUKUI Masami, UMEDA Mikio, HAMASAKI Tatsuhide, SUGAHARA Masataka
J. Env. cons. eng, 40(10) 620-627, Oct 20, 2011
Application of methanogenic digestate of livestock excrements as a fertilizer to paddy fields may lead to pollution of the surrounding aquatic ecosystems due to estrogens in the digestate. To evaluate the potential environmental impacts of estrogens, the rate of degradability of the estrogens in the field is important. In this study, we investigated degradation of estradiol and estron in the digestate and paddy field surface water by using incubation tests and a fractionation test. Results show that the estrogens were degraded rapidly in the paddy field surface water but not in the digestate, possibly due to adsorption of the estrogens by organic matter in the digestate. It is suggested that the main factor in the degradation of the estrogen is the microbial reaction, and that the principal species of microbes in paddy field soil have a higher degradation ability than those in the digestate.