Objective  To reduce veterinary antibiotic residues in domestic sewage and livestock breeding wastewater, and screen aquatic plants which can better remove veterinary antibiotics in water for plant restoration and artificial wetland.

Method  Four commonly used aquatic plants (Pennisetum hydridum, Cyperus alternifolius, Canna indica and Pontderia cordata) and three kinds of commonly used veterinary antibiotics (amoxicillin, florfenicol and doxycycline hydrochloride) were selected to construct the hydroponic experiment system for evaluating the tolerance and removal efficiency of antibiotics in water.

Result  Four different aquatic plant species had a certain efficiency on removing the selected veterinary antibiotics after 14 days of hydroponic culture. Three kinds of antibiotics had a positive effect on increasing plant height and chlorophyll content at low and medium concentrations of 0−100 mg/L, and inhibited plant growth and decreased chlorophyll content at high concentration above 100 mg/L. Besides, there was significant difference between the treatment groups and the control group. The highest removal efficiency was observed for each plant at 14 days after 100 mg/L antibiotics stress treatment. P. hydridum, C. indica and C. indica were the best selected plants to remove amoxicillin, florfenicol, and doxycycline hydrochloride respectively, and the removal rates were 55.0%, 56.2% and 48.3% respectively.

Conclusion  The efficiency of four kinds of plants to remove veterinary antibiotics in water was in order of C. plantsiana>P. hydridum>P. cordata=C. alternifolius.