Antibiotic and Heavy Metal Resistance in Bacteria from Contaminated Agricultural Soil: Insights from a New Zealand Airstrip.

ABSTRACT:

Background/objectives

Agricultural soils accumulate inorganic contaminants from the application of phosphate fertilisers. An airstrip located at Belmont Regional Park (BRP), near Wellington, New Zealand, has been found to have a gradient of cadmium contamination due to spillage of superphosphate fertiliser.

Methods

Soil samples from the BRP airstrip with a gradient of cadmium contamination, were used as a novel source to explore bacterial communities' resistance to heavy metals (HMs) and any co-selected antibiotic (Ab) resistance.

Results

Differences between BRP soil samples with higher levels of HMs compared to those with lower HM concentrations showed significantly more bacterial isolates resistant to both HMs (40.6% versus 63.1% resistant to 0.01 mM CdCl₂

SUBMITTER: Heydari A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11851424 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature