Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Agroecosystems as Emerging Contaminants

Rapid rise in pharmaceutical industries during past decades in order to cure challenging human diseases has released considerable amounts of antibiotics in natural ecosystem including soil and aquatic ecosystem. The presence of antibiotics beyond the acceptable limits in agro-ecosystems entering through different sources like wastewater irrigation and manure application has witnessed multiple negative consequences on environmental homoeostasis. Moreover, the injudicious application of antibiotics for treatment of human diseases, improvement in crop yield and enhancement in productivity of livestock based meat production have triggered the resistance development in exposed microorganisms dwelling in agricultural soils, putting severe environmental threat to humans and other components of the food chain. The resistance to exposed antibiotics conferred through antibiotic resistance genes is well documented and agro-ecosystem contamination with antibiotic resistance genes as a rising risk is registered globally. So far, numbers of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes have been identified as emerging contaminants in soil ecosystem, suggesting the deployment of suitable strategies falling in the categories of physical, chemical and biological strategies to decontaminate the agricultural soils affected with antibiotics and associated resistance genes.