Impact of antibiotics on agricultural microbiome: emergence of antibiotic resistance bacteria

Antibiotic resistance is the greatest problem for medical science. The consistent use of different antibiotics in human livelihood has resulted in antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Despite a wide range of antibiotics being applied to agriculture, less information is available about how antibiotic resistance arises and the related mechanisms. The use of antibiotics for animals creates selective pressure for antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) in the intestinal microbiota of animals which is excreted via feces. The waste excreted material in the agricultural fields is thus one of the reasons for the transfer of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARBs) from agricultural fields to organisms. Antibiotic traces enter the soil environment through the sorption process thus increasing the antibiotic concentration in agriculture fields. The increasing concentration of antibiotics in soil has led to the emergence of ARBs. The studies on ARGs in soil have given an opportunity to study new genes which are related to antibiotic resistance in bacteria. This chapter addresses the fate of antibiotics in agricultural soils and their impact on the functional diversity of ARBs. The gradual emergence of ARBs and their clinical effects on human health is a worldwide problem. Antibiotics affect the transcriptome and metabolome of soil microorganisms, ultimately altering the overall microbial biomass and their abundance. However, the exact estimation of the impact of antibiotics on the activity and the diversity of soil microbial populations still needs to be explored.