TY - JOUR
T1 - Antibiotic resistance in soil and tomato crop irrigated with freshwater and two types of treated wastewater
AU - Seyoum, Mitiku Mihiret
AU - Lichtenberg, Rachel
AU - Orlofsky, Ezra
AU - Bernstein, Nirit
AU - Gillor, Osnat
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022
PY - 2022/8/1
Y1 - 2022/8/1
N2 - Agricultural use of treated wastewater (TWW) is an effective means to reduce freshwater (FW) consumption. However, there is a growing concern regarding the potential dissemination of antibiotic resistance elements by TWW irrigation. We hypothesized that higher levels of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) would be detected in soil and crops irrigated with TWW compared to FW irrigation. To test our prediction, samples of water (FW, secondary TWW, and tertiary TWW), irrigated soils, and crops (tomato) surface wash were collected during two consecutive growing seasons. The ARGs conferring resistance to sulfonamide, fluoroquinolone, penicillin, erythromycin and tetracycline were quantified in the samples, alongside Class 1 integron-integrase and the bacterial 16 S rRNA encoding genes. Contrary to our hypothesis, ARGs in the irrigation water were not propagated to either the irrigated soil, or the tomato. The tomato surface wash featured a variety of ARGs that were undetected in neither the waters nor the irrigated soils. Therefore, we cautiously question the link between irrigation water quality and the soil and produce resistomes.
AB - Agricultural use of treated wastewater (TWW) is an effective means to reduce freshwater (FW) consumption. However, there is a growing concern regarding the potential dissemination of antibiotic resistance elements by TWW irrigation. We hypothesized that higher levels of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) would be detected in soil and crops irrigated with TWW compared to FW irrigation. To test our prediction, samples of water (FW, secondary TWW, and tertiary TWW), irrigated soils, and crops (tomato) surface wash were collected during two consecutive growing seasons. The ARGs conferring resistance to sulfonamide, fluoroquinolone, penicillin, erythromycin and tetracycline were quantified in the samples, alongside Class 1 integron-integrase and the bacterial 16 S rRNA encoding genes. Contrary to our hypothesis, ARGs in the irrigation water were not propagated to either the irrigated soil, or the tomato. The tomato surface wash featured a variety of ARGs that were undetected in neither the waters nor the irrigated soils. Therefore, we cautiously question the link between irrigation water quality and the soil and produce resistomes.
KW - Agriculture
KW - Antibiotic resistance
KW - Effluent
KW - Soil
KW - Vegetable
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85126551609&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113021
DO - 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113021
M3 - Article
C2 - 35276198
AN - SCOPUS:85126551609
SN - 0013-9351
VL - 211
JO - Environmental Research
JF - Environmental Research
M1 - 113021
ER -
