ABSTRACT
In recent years, the occurrence and fate of antibiotics in the environment has drawn great attention of researchers all over the world (Kümmerer 2001; Xiao et al. 2008). Although the antibiotic residues in the environment are at the subinhibitory concentrations, they are still considered to be emerging pollutants because antibiotics may result in the development/ maintenance/transfer/spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibioticresistant genes in the long term (Kim et al. 2005; Knapp et al. 2008; Martínez 2008).
