Safely coupling livestock and crop production systems: how rapidly do antibiotic resistance genes dissipate in soil following a commercial application of swine or dairy manure?

ABSTRACT: Animal manures recycled onto crop production land carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The present study evaluated the fate in soil of selected genes associated with antibiotic resistance or genetic mobility in field plots cropped to vegetables and managed according to normal farming practice. Referenced to unmanured soil, fertilization with swine or dairy manure increased the relative abundance of the gene targets sul1, erm(B), str(B), int1, and IncW repA. Following manure application in the spring of 2012, gene copy number decayed exponentially, reaching background levels by the fall of 2012. In contrast, gene copy number following manure application in the fall of 2012 or spring of 2013 increased significantly in the weeks following application and then declined. In both cases, the rela

SUBMITTER: Marti R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4018915 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature