Intervention of antimicrobial resistance transfer into the food chain
Environment
Interventions
Transmission
- Fiona Walsh, Maynooth University, Ireland (Coordinator)
- Edward Topp, University of Western Ontario, Canada (Partner)
- Magdalena Popowska, University of Warsaw, Poland (Partner)
- Eddie Cytryn, Agriculture Research Organisation, Israel (Partner)
- Fiona Brennan, Teagasc Environmental Research Centre, Ireland (Partner)
- Xavier Sidler, University of Zurich, Switzerland (Partner)
Antimicrobial resistance can be passed from animal and human waste to the environment through pollution and using it as fertilisers to help crops and grass growth. Our research wants farmers to be still able to use this useful waste to give nutrients to the crops and grass but to remove the chance of antimicrobial resistance being passed on to bacteria in the soil or on the plants. This project is looking at ways to treat farm manure before it’s added to the field. We have used three different and cost-effective ways to treat animal manures and compared these with untreated manures. The manures are then spread on crops or grass and we measure if antibiotic resistance is present, if bacteria that cause disease are present and if both of these stay on the plant and in the soil for weeks afterwards. We will be able to say if the treatments reduce or stop the antibiotic resistant bacteria being passed onto the soil and grass and which treatments work best. We’ll also be able to say if some of these bacteria and antibiotic resistances don’t survive on the plants or in the soil for very long and then also the bacteria and antibiotic resistances that can survive and that are most important to look for on the plants before animals or humans eat them.
- Biomolecules, 2022. A Comprehensive Study of the Microbiome, Resistome, and Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Chicken Waste from Intensive Farms
- The Science of The Total Environment, 2022. Comparison of soil and grass microbiomes and resistomes reveals grass as a greater antimicrobial resistance reservoir than soil
- ACCESS MICROBIOLOGY, 2019. Occurrence of extended-spectrum b-lactamase (ESBL)/AmpC producing bacteria in wastewater treatment plant effluent
- Antibiotics and Antimicrobial Resistance Genes, 2020. Treatment Technologies for Removal of Antibiotics, Antibiotic Resistance Bacteria and Antibiotic-Resistant Genes
- Frontiers in Microbiology, 2021. Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Animal Manure – Consequences of Its Application in Agriculture
- Journal of Environmental Management, 2022. Fate of Clostridia and other spore-forming Firmicute bacteria during feedstock anaerobic digestion and aerobic composting
- Environmental Pollution, 2022. Metagenomic and HT-qPCR analysis reveal the microbiome and resistome in pig slurry under storage, composting, and anaerobic digestion
- bioRxiv, 2022. Pig manure treatment strategies for mitigating the spread of antibiotic resistance.