Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Peer-reviewed

Transmission and migration of antibiotic resistance genes following agricultural fertilization in sloping croplands

Yifei Sun, Rui Chen, Sarah van den Broek, Jiong Wen, Yuxiang Li, Xibai Zeng, Shiming Su, Gina Garland

Journal of Hazardous Materials · 2026

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Summary

Livestock manure, a major anthropogenic source of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in agricultural soils due to residual veterinary antibiotics, is commonly used as a nutrient-rich fertilizer on sloping cropland. However, the role of landscape features, particularly topographic heterogeneity in shaping ARG transmission and migration remains poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed 76 metagenomes from five environmental habitats collected along three sloping cropland routes in the Dongting Lake region of China. Soil shared 276 ARG subtypes with other habitats, indicating manure fertilization on slopes facilitates ARGs diffusion across ecosystem. ARG abundance exhibited strong spatial patterns in soil samples, associated with distance from fertilized zones and buffer strips. In fertil

Subject
Antimicrobial resistance
Source type
Peer-reviewed study
System type
Other
DOI
10.1016/j.jhazmat.2026.141666
Catalogue ID
SNmp2b1ums-r5a8xe
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