[Effects of Thermophilic Composting on Antibiotic Resistance Genes (ARGs) of Swine Manure Source]

To investigate the effects of thermophilic composting process on antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) of swine manure source at a field scale, the abundance of four erythromycin resistance genes (ermA, ermB, ermC and ermF), three β-lactam resistance genes (blaTEM, blaCTX and blaSHV) and two quinolone resistance genes (qnrA and qnrS) were quantified by quantitative PCR ( qPCR) during the composting process. The results suggested that the erm genes' copy numbers were significantly higher than those of the bla and qnr genes in the early stage of composting (P < 0.01). The maximum abundance of erm genes was ermB (9.88 x 10⁸ copies · g⁻¹), following by ermF (9.4 x 10⁸ copies · g⁻¹). At the end of the composting process, bla and qnr genes were at low levels, while erm genes were still at high levels. Even through ermF was proliferated comparing with the initial copies. These results indicated that thermophilic composting process could not effectively remove all ARGs. For some ARGs, compost may be a good bioreactor resulting in their proliferation. Application of composting products on farmland may cause transference of ARGs.