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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Agroecosystems Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #298693
Title: Transport and persistence of tylosin-resistant enterococci, erm genes, and tylosin in soil and drainage water from fields receiving swine manure

Author
item GARDER, JASON - Iowa State University
item Moorman, Thomas
item SOUPIR, MICHELLE - Iowa State University

Submitted to: Journal of Environmental Quality
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/27/2014
Publication Date: 7/3/2014
Citation: Garder, J., Moorman, T.B., Soupir, M. 2014. Transport and persistence of tylosin-resistant enterococci, erm genes, and tylosin in soil and drainage water from fields receiving swine manure. Journal of Environmental Quality. Available at: https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jeq/pdfs/0/0/jeq2013.09.0379. 43:1484-1493.

Interpretive Summary: Land application of swine manure from tylosin-treated swine introduces tylosin-resistant Enterococcus, erm genes, which confer resistance to tylosin, and tylosin. Enterococcus is a fecal indicator bacterium commonly used as a measure of water quality. This study documents the occurrence and transport of tylosin-resistant enterococci, erythromycin ribosomal methylase (ermB and ermF) genes, and tylosin in tile-drained chisel plow and no-till agricultural fields treated with liquid swine manure in alternating years. Soil collected from the manure injection band closely following application contained more than one billion gene copies per gram of soil of both ermB and ermF in 2010 and more than 100 million copies per gram of soil after the 2011 application compared to 3,000 to 300,000 gene gene copies per gram of soil in the no-manure control plots. Gene abundances declined over the subsequent two-year period to levels similar to the those in the no-manure controls. Concentrations of Enterococcus in tile water were low while tylosin-resistant Enterococcus was rarely detected. The tylosin-resistance gene ermB was detected in approximately 75% of tile water samples and ermF was detected in 30% of tile water samples, but levels of these genes were not elevated due to manure application and no difference was found between both tillage practices. These results show that tylosin usage in swine increased the short-term occurrence of tylosin-resistant enterococci, erm genes, and tylosin in manured soils, but there were minimal effect on tile drainage water quality in years of below average precipitation. This research informs producer groups, producers, animal scientists and the public about the consequences and risks resulting from antibiotic use in agriculture.

Technical Abstract: Land application of manure from tylosin-treated swine introduces tylosin-resistant enterococci, erm genes, which confer resistance to tylosin, and tylosin. This study documents the occurrence and transport of tylosin-resistant enterococci, erm genes, and tylosin in tile-drained chisel plow and no-till agricultural fields treated with liquid swine manure in alternating years. Nearly 75% of the enterococci in manure were resistant to tylosin and ermB concentrations exceeded 10E8 copies/g manure while the mean ermF concentrations exceeded 10E7 copies/g manure. ErmT was not detected. The mean concentration of tylosin was 73 ng/g (ppb) manure. Soil collected from the manure injection band closely following application contained >10E9 copies/g soil of both ermB and ermF in 2010 and > 10E8 copies/g soil after the 2011 application compared to 3 x 10E3 to 3 x 10E5 copies/g soil in the no-manure control plots. Gene abundances declined over the subsequent two-year period to levels similar to the those in the no-manure controls. Concentrations of enterococci in tile water were low while tylosin-resistant enterococci was rarely detected. ErmB was detected in approximately 75% of tile water samples and ermF was detected in 30% of tile water samples but levels of these genes were not elevated due to manure application and no difference was found between both tillage practices. These results show that tylosin usage increased the short-term occurrence of tylosin-resistant enterococci, erm genes, and tylosin in soils, but has had minimal effect on tile drainage water quality in years of below average precipitation.