Distribution, horizontal transfer and influencing factors of antibiotic resistance genes and antimicrobial mechanism of compost tea

Compost tea was alternatives of chemical pesticide for green agriculture, but there were no reports about antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in compost tea. This study investigated the effect of livestock manures, sewage sludge, their composting products and liquid fermentation on ARGs, mobile genetic elements (MGEs), metal resistance genes (MRGs) and antimicrobial properties of various compost tea. The results showed aerobic liquid fermentation reduced ARGs by 65.93 % and 45.20 % in the compost tea of chicken manure and sludge, enriched ARGs by 8.57 % and 37.41 % in the compost tea of pig manure and bovine manure, and increased MGEs and MRGs by 1.25 × 10-5-5.53 × 10-3 and 2.03 × 10-5-2.03 × 10-3 in the four compost tea. The correlation coefficient of tetracycline and sulfonamide resistance genes between compost product and compost tea were 0.98 and 0.91. aadA2-02, sul2 and tetX abundant in the compost tea were positively correlated with MGEs and MRGs. Furthermore, liquid fermentation enriched the potential host of tetracycline and vancomycin resistance genes. Tetracycline resistance genes occupied 62.7 % of total ARGs in the compost tea. Alcaligenes and Bacillus enriched by 0.78-39.31 % in the four compost tea, which metabolites had high antimicrobial activity. The potential host of ARGs accounted for 42.1 % bacteria abundance in the four compost tea.