Little is known about the environmental fate of hormones used in agriculture and their effects on both ecosystems and human health, but there is increasing evidence that they may have serious deleterious effects. In animals or humans, exposure to endocrine disruptors in utero or during childhood may have detrimental effects on development, even at very low concentrations. Growth promoters may reach the environment through spillover from waste lagoons or when manure from treated animals is applied to fields as fertilizer. To limit the impact of these compounds on wildlife and human populations in or near Lake Erie and its tributaries, it is important that residual traces of the target compounds are rendered inactive before reaching receiving waters. A portion of the compounds will be retarded in their mobility by sorption to soil or manure particles, and these compounds may be further attenuated before reaching receiving waters by plants in agricultural fields and riparian buffer strips. Phytoremediation of zeranol, estradiol, and estrone (a degradation product of estradiol) will be tested in representative crops and buffer zone plants.

Sorption of zeranol, estradiol, and estrone to uncontaminated manure and soil samples will be directly measured in batch studies. Soils will be collected from representative agricultural and riparian zones, and manure from untreated cattle will be obtained from the Finley Large Animal Farm associated with the Ohio State University. Phytoremediation potential for these compounds will be evaluated in soybeans, water hyacinths, and hybrid poplars (P. nigra, DN34). To fully assess the phytoremediation potential of these species for the compounds of interest, plants will be exposed to experimentally contaminated hydroponic media and soils, and plant tissue cultures will be grown in aqueous cultures containing these growth promoters.