Location: Agricultural Water Efficiency and Salinity Research Unit
Project Number: 2036-12320-011-001-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Nov 1, 2020
End Date: Oct 31, 2025
Objective:
The objective of this research will be to address the development and spread of anthropogenically induced antibiotics and antibiotics resistance determinants in various environmental matrices and to quantify human and environmental health risks from antibiotics in these compartments.
Approach:
This work will focus on two of the environmental compartments, i.e., plants and earthworms, that are important in agricultural systems, because they are highly exposed to the contaminated soils and are important pathways of subsequent transmission to human and animals. We will assess spinach and earthworm uptake of select manure- or wastewater- borne antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes base on cutting-edge next generation nanopore DNA sequencing platform and changes in microbial composition and concentrations of select genes in soil, rhizosphere, and in earthworm guts in response to manure application or irrigation with wastewater using a silt loam soil either amended with manure or irrigated with wastewater effluents.
