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Effects of Chinese medicine herbal residues on antibiotic resistance genes and the bacterial community in chicken manure composting

The Journal of Antibiotics volume 75, pages 164–171 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

The use of livestock manure is an important way for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) to enter the environment, and composting is an effective method for removing ARGs from livestock manure. In this study, different volume ratios of Chinese medicinal herbal residues (CMHRs) were added to laboratory-scale chicken manure composting to evaluate their effects, if any, on the behavior of ARGs, mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and the bacterial community. At the end of the composting period, the composition of the microbial community changed. Firmicutes decreased and Bacteroidetes increased. The most striking effect was that the relative abundance of the 21 ARGs and 5 MGEs detected decreased by varying degrees in the different treatments (except for sulI and intI1). The removal rate of the ARGs increased with the increased addition of CMHRs. The correlations between transferase genes (tnpA and tnpA-02) and ARGs were significant (p < 0.05); therefore, transposons play an important role in the horizontal gene transfer of ARGs in chicken manure. The results imply that CMHRs would be an effective bulking agent for the removal of ARGs from chicken manure composting.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1910207) and the Key R&D program of Shanxi Province (201903D321071).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Loess Plateau, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, 030006, China

    Bao-Bei Guo, Jin-Ping Wu, Jian-Wen Chen, Hong Zhang & Jun-Jian Li

  2. Shanxi Laboratory for Yellow River, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, 030006, China

    Bao-Bei Guo, Jin-Ping Wu, Jian-Wen Chen, Hong Zhang & Jun-Jian Li

  3. Pomology Institute, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, 030006, China

    Bao-Bei Guo

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Correspondence to Jun-Jian Li.

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Guo, BB., Wu, JP., Chen, JW. et al. Effects of Chinese medicine herbal residues on antibiotic resistance genes and the bacterial community in chicken manure composting. J Antibiot 75, 164–171 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41429-022-00505-x

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