Influence of Manure Application on the Environmental Resistome under Finnish Agricultural Practice with Restricted Antibiotic Use

Abstract

The co-occurrence of antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in farm environments can potentially foster the development of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. We studied the resistome of Finnish dairy and swine farms where use of antibiotics is limited to treating bacterial infections and manure is only applied from April to September. The resistome of manure, soil, and tile drainage water from the ditch was investigated from the beginning of the growing season until forage harvest. The relative ARG and MGE abundance was measured using a qPCR array with 363 primer pairs. Manure samples had the highest abundance of ARGs and MGEs, which increased during storage. Immediately following land application, the ARGs abundant in manure were detected in soil, but their abundance decreased over time with many becoming undetectable. This suggests that increases in ARG abundances after fertilizing are temporary and occur annually under agricultural practices that restrict antibiotic use. A few of the ARGs were detected in the ditch water, but most of them were undetected in the manure. Our results document the dissipation and dissemination off farm of ARGs under Finnish limited antibiotic use and suggest that such practices could help reduce the load of antibiotic-resistance genes in the environment.

Host range of antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater treatment plant influent and effluent

“… 2016 ; Muurinen et al . 2017 ). Nevertheless, the information about gene-carrying species is missing, and whether the ARG carriers are potential pathogens or harmless environmental bacteria remains unresolved.…”

Comparison of Microbiomes and Resistomes in Two Karst Groundwater Sites in Chongqing, China

“…It is well documented that anthropogenic activities greatly affect the microbial community structure and the spread of antibiotic resistance genes, such as agriculture, fishery (Fahrenfeld et al 2013;Czekalski et al 2015;Lu et al 2015;Guo et al 2016). Judicial use of antibiotics is important for decreasing ARGs (Garner et al 2016;Muurinen et al 2017).…”

Land Use and Environmental Variables Influence Tetracycline‐Resistant Bacteria Occurrence in Southeastern Coastal Plain Streams

“…First, there may have been a lag between the timing of sampling (which occurred between October and December) and the timing of manure application. Antibiotic resistance is known to be temporary, mostly observed within 6 wk after application to the soil (Muurinen et al, 2017). Second, unless there is heavy precipitation, manure is likely to be a localized rather than region‐wide issue; antibiotic resistance is often confined to the point of application, with minimal spread to streams (Muurinen et al, 2017).…”

“…Antibiotic resistance is known to be temporary, mostly observed within 6 wk after application to the soil (Muurinen et al, 2017). Second, unless there is heavy precipitation, manure is likely to be a localized rather than region‐wide issue; antibiotic resistance is often confined to the point of application, with minimal spread to streams (Muurinen et al, 2017). Such limited transport could result in low proportions of tetracycline‐resistant E. coli in surface waters adjacent to agricultural sites.…”