Reductive soil disinfestation attenuates antibiotic resistance genes in greenhouse vegetable soils

Reductive soil disinfestation (RSD) is an emerging technique that ameliorates soil degradation, but its effects against antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were unclear. Here, we examined soil properties, ARG types and numbers, and ARG profiles, and bacterial community compositions following 4 soil treatments: control; straw addition (SA); water flooding (WF); and RSD, both straw addition and water flooding. The results showed that the numbers of ARG types and subtypes decreased by 10.8% and 21.1%, respectively, after RSD, and the numbers of ARGs decreased by 18.6%. The attenuated multidrug, beta-lactam, macrolide, and phenicol resistance genes in the RSD soil corresponded to a decreased relative abundance of ARG subtypes (i.e., adeF, mdtM, TypeB_NfxB, mecA, nalC, OXA-60, and cmlA4). Taxa in phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Deinococcus-Thermus were the main hosts for dominant ARG subtypes and were inhibited by RSD. The selected bacterial genera and soil properties explained 83.4% of the variance in ARG composition, suggesting that the improved soil properties and the reduced potential ARG hosts produced by the interactions of straw addition and water flooding are likely responsible for ARG attenuation by RSD. Therefore, RSD has the potential to mitigate ARG pollution in soils.