Mass loading of typical artificial sweeteners in a pig farm and their dissipation and uptake by plants in neighboring farmland

Abstract Pig farm is an important potential source for artificial sweeteners (ASs) in the environment due to their wide use as additives in pig feed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the fate of typical ASs in pig farm and neighboring farmland. For this purpose, the levels of four typical artificial ASs, i.e. saccharin (SAC), cyclamate (CYC), acesulfame (ACE) and sucralose (SUC), in pig feed and manure from a pig farm and water samples from an on-farm wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Tianjin, China were measured and the mass loadings and removal efficiencies were assessed. Moreover, the levels of ASs in different layers of soil and vegetables in neighboring farmland that received manure fertilizers and wastewater from the farm were consecutively monitored for 60–80 days. The SAC, CYC and ACE were widely determined in all kinds of the samples, while SUC was only found in few soil samples. The mass loadings of the ASs in pig feed were estimated up to 311 kg/year for SAC, 59.1 kg/year for CYC, and 17.1 kg/year for ACE, respectively. The fractions of the total mass of ASs excreted via manure were estimated to be 36.0% for SAC, 59.4% for CYC, and 36.7% for ACE as compared to those in pig feed. High removal efficiencies (> 90%) of ASs in the on-farm WWTP was achieved. In greenhouse soils, CYC, SAC, ACE, and SUC were degraded quickly, with half-lives of 4.3–5.9 d, 2.7–4.2 d, 8.4–12.3 d, and 7.3–10.8 d, respectively. Lower levels of ASs were found in deeper soil layer (20–30 cm). The ASs were considerably absorbed by plants when the ASs' concentrations were high in soil. This study presents the first comprehensive overview of ASs fate from a pig farm to the neighboring agricultural ecosystem.