Phenomenal Bombardment of Antibiotic in Poultry: Contemplating the Environmental Repercussions

Abstract

Antibiotics have constantly been added at an unprecedented rate in order to enhance poultry meat production. Such antibiotics impose a negative impact on human health directly through meat and egg consumption. On the other hand, they also affect humans indirectly by affecting the normal key microbial processes in the agricultural environments, when used as poultry compost. For many years, farmers have been turning poultry litter into compost for agricultural use. Very few studies have addressed the fate of the unmetabolized antibiotic residues in poultry litter that could potentially affect microbial communities when used as poultry compost. We have also questioned the fate of residual antibiotic in poultry waste which may create possible negative environmental pressure on microbial communities that are involved in microbial mediated poultry litter composting processes. The incorporation of antibiotic degrading environmental isolates in poultry litter at the initial stage of composting in order to accelerate the process is addressed in this review as a future perspective.

Detection of Antimicrobial Residues in Poultry Litter: Monitoring a Risk through a Selective and Sensitive HPLC–MS/MS Method

“…There is a growing concern for the presence of AM residues, and hence, the persistence and risks of these emerging contaminants have been investigated in both poultry droppings and litter [ 16 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. The primary concern is the continuous pressure on bacteria resulting in the selection of microorganisms with genes encoding resistance to AMs [ 35 ].…”

Paternal transgenerational nutritional epigenetic effect: A new insight into nutritional manipulation to reduce the use of antibiotics in animal feeding

“…Specifically, the increasing use of antibiotics at subtherapeutic concentrations for growth promotion and disease prevention (for example, as a substitute for hygiene) is placing substantial selection pressure on the evolution of resistance to antibiotics ( Iwu et al., 2020 ). The worldwide antimicrobial consumption in farming animals is projected to rise from 63,151 tons in 2010 to 105,596 tons in 2030, placing great selection pressure on resistant bacteria ( Manikandan et al., 2020 ). The unregulated use of antibiotics in animal feeding could further pollute water and soils with the discharge of animal manures ( Zhu et al., 2013 ), which could, in turn, lead to more resistant pathogens and then influence human health.…”

Occurrence of veterinary antibiotics in poultry manure from two farms in Ibadan, Nigeria: Ecotoxicological implications in manure-amended soil

“…In the European Union, sulfonamides and trimethoprim were found to account for 11% and 1.6%, respectively of the total antibiotics consumption for food producing animals in 2012 [4,13]. Trimethoprim often acts as a bactericidal agent in the presence of sulfonamides (such as sulfadimidine and sulfamethoxazole) against Gram-positive and many Gram-negative bacteria through the inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis [14]. Despite the importance of veterinary antibiotics in poultry production, risk assessment of these antibiotics towards soil microbial communities and other soil dwelling organisms due to application of poultry manure onto soil is still lacking [4].…”