Veterinary tetracycline residues: Environmental occurrence, ecotoxicity, and degradation mechanism.

Tetracycline has been widely used in the intensive livestock and poultry breeding industry to prevent and treat infectious diseases or promote animal growth. Usually, about 40.0-90.0% of tetracycline is excreted in the form of original drugs or metabolites and finally enters the surrounding water and soil, causing a series of eco-toxic effects. In this review, the toxic effects on plants, soil animals, and microorganisms are systematically reviewed. The migration and degradation mechanisms of tetracycline are emphasized, which are closely related to the physical and chemical properties of soil. In addition, the residual tetracycline in soil and water can be efficiently degraded by "plant-microorganism". Based on summarizing the current research progress, this review puts forward some important problems to be solved in the study of tetracycline residue and looks forward to the future research direction.