Pig manure treatment strategies for mitigating the spread of antibiotic resistance

Abstract

Due to the risk of pathogenic antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their antibiotic-resistance genes transfer from livestock feces to the soil and cultivated crops, it is imperative to find effective on-farm manure treatments to minimize that hazardous potential. An introduced worldwide policy of sustainable development, focus on ecological agricultural production, and the circular economy aimed at reducing the use of artificial fertilizers; therefore, such treatment methods should also maximize the fertilization value of animal manure. The two strategies for processing pig manure are proposed in this study—storage and composting. The present study examines the changes in the physicochemical properties of treated manure, in the microbiome, and in the resistome, compared to raw manure. This is the first such comprehensive analysis performed on the same batch of manure. Our results suggest that while none of the processes eliminates the environmental risk, composting results in a faster and more pronounced reduction of mobile genetic elements harboring antibiotic resistance genes, including those responsible for multi-drug resistance. Overall, the composting process can be an efficient strategy for mitigating the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment and reducing the risk of its transfer to crops and the food chain while providing essential fertilizer ingredients.

Effect of composting and storage on the microbiome and resistome of cattle manure from a commercial dairy farm in Poland

“…Such amendments typically contain all nutrients essential for plant growth and can replace or complement inorganic fertilizers in agricultural production systems (Youngquist et al 2016 ). However, cattle manure can also serve as a reservoir of environmental ARG pollution (Udikovic-Kolic et al 2014 ; Zalewska et al 2021 ), and the direct use of livestock manure without proper treatment could promote the dispersal of ARG in arable soil and cultivated plants (Ghosh and LaPara 2007 ; Heuer et al 2011 ; Udikovic-Kolic et al 2014 ; Zalewska et al 2023 ). The presence of ARGs in soil samples collected from fields amended with manure, such as tetW , tetO , tetT , tetM , tetA , tetL , tetQ , sul1 , sul2 , and sul3 , was confirmed (Zhao et al 2017 ).…”

Effect of composting and storage on the microbiome and resistome of cattle manure from a commercial dairy farm in Poland

“…Such amendments typically contain all nutrients essential for plant growth and can replace or complement inorganic fertilizers in agricultural production systems (Youngquist et al, 2016). However, cattle manure can also serve as a reservoir of environmental ARG pollution (Udikovic-Kolic et al, 2014; Zalewska et al, 2021), and the direct use of livestock manure without proper treatment could promote the dispersal of ARG in arable soil and cultivated plants (Ghosh and LaPara, 2007; Heuer et al, 2011; Udikovic-Kolic et al, 2014; Zalewska et al, 2023). Manure treatment strategies have not been specifically designed to mitigate AMR (Oliver et al, 2020).…”

Enhanced phytoremediation of metal contaminated soils aimed at decreasing the risk of antibiotic resistance dissemination

“…Manure pretreatment, by means of composting or anaerobic digestion, can reduce the burden of ARB and ARGs, as well as destroy antibiotic residues (Tran et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2021). Although neither composting nor storage completely eliminate the risk of antibiotic resistance, composting is normally more effective (Zalewska et al, 2023). A thermal hydrolysis pre-treatment combined with anaerobic digestion has been reported to reduce the abundance of ARGs and MGEs in sewage sludge (Sun et al, 2019).…”