Abstract
The aim of this review was to provide an update on the complex relationship between manure application, altered pathogen levels and antibiotic resistance. This is necessary to protect health and improve the sustainability of this major farming practice in agricultural systems based on high levels of manure production. It is important to consider soil health in relation to environment and land management practices in the context of the soil microflora and the introduction of pathogens on the health of the soil microbiome. Viable pathogens in manure spread on agricultural land may be distributed by leaching, surface run-off, water source contamination and contaminated crop removal. Thus it is important to understand how multiple pathogens can persist in manures and on soil at farm-scale and how crops produced under these conditions could be a potential transfer route for zoonotic pathogens. The management of pathogen load within livestock manure is a potential mechanism for the reduction and prevention of outbreaks infection with Escherichia coli, Listeria Salmonella, and Campylobacter. The ability of Campylobacter, E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella to combat environmental stress coupled with their survival on food crops and vegetables post-harvest emphasizes the need for further study of these pathogens along with the emerging pathogen Providencia given its link to disease in the immunocompromised and its’ high levels of antibiotic resistance. The management of pathogen load within livestock manure has been widely recognized as a potential mechanism for the reduction and prevention of outbreaks infection but any studies undertaken should be considered as region specific due to the variable nature of the factors influencing pathogen content and survival in manures and soil. Mediocre soils that require nutrients could be one template for research on manure inputs and their influence on soil health and on pathogen survival on grassland and in food crops.
Highlights
With the global population continuing to rise, there is an everincreasing pressure placed on soil to support the intensification of agriculture (Waggoner, 1995; Tilman et al, 2002; Tomley and Shirley, 2009; Blaiotta et al, 2016; Manyi-Loh et al, 2016; Struik and Kuyper, 2017; Chaudhari et al, 2021)
Manures are routinely applied to grassland and arable sites, with multiple studies indicating an array of benefits such as provision of essential nutrients for plant growth, increased soil carbon content, greater carbon sequestration and neutralization of soil acidity (Boateng et al, 2006; Risse et al, 2006; Zhang and Fang, 2007; Wortmann and Shapiro, 2008; Loss et al, 2019; Ekman et al, 2021)
Increasing reliance on manure as a soil enhancer, coupled with the need to dispose of snowballing waste production, has raised many questions regarding the safe use of manures to achieve and maintain sustainable agriculture (Pratt, 1979; Adegoke et al, 2016; ManyiLoh et al, 2016)
Summary
With the global population continuing to rise, there is an everincreasing pressure placed on soil to support the intensification of agriculture (Waggoner, 1995; Tilman et al, 2002; Tomley and Shirley, 2009; Blaiotta et al, 2016; Manyi-Loh et al, 2016; Struik and Kuyper, 2017; Chaudhari et al, 2021). The spread of animal manure as a soil amendment (Zeng et al, 2017) intensifies the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) as they are prominent in the animal gut due to the overuse of antibiotics in farming or due to the intensive use of in-feed antibiotics (Zhao Q. et al, 2018). This evidence clearly requires an understanding of the role of soil aligned with the use of manure to understand the dissemination of ARGs and pathogens within the environment
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