Do, Thi Thuy and Nolan, Stephen and Hayes, Nicky and O'Flaherty, Vincent and Burgess, Catherine and Brennan, Fiona and Walsh, Fiona (2022) Metagenomic and HT-qPCR analysis reveal the microbiome and resistome in pig slurry under storage, composting, and anaerobic digestion. Environmental Pollution, 305 (119271). pp. 1-11. ISSN 02697491

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Abstract

Direct application of pig slurry to agricultural land, as a means of nutrient recycling, introduces pathogens, antibiotic resistant bacteria, or genes, to the environment. With global environmental sustainability policies mandating a reduction in synthetic fertilisation and a commitment to a circular economy it is imperative to find effective on-farm treatments of slurry that maximises its fertilisation value and minimises risk to health and the environment. We assessed and compared the effect of storage, composting, and anaerobic digestion (AD) on pig slurry microbiome, resistome and nutrient content. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing and HT-qPCR arrays were implemented to understand the dynamics across the treatments. Our results identified that each treatment methods have advantages and disadvantages in removal pollutants or increasing nutrients. The data suggests that storage and composting are optimal for the removal of human pathogens and anaerobic digestion for the reduction in antibiotic resistance (AMR) genes and mobile genetic elements. The nitrogen content is increased in storage and AD, while reduced in composting. Thus, depending on the requirement for increased or reduced nitrogen the optimum treatment varies. Combining the results indicates that composting provides the greatest gain by reducing risk to human health and the environment. Network analysis revealed reducing Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes while increasing Firmicutes will reduce the AMR content. KEGG analysis identified no significant change in the pathways across all treatments. This novel study provides a data driven decision tree to determine the optimal treatment for best practice to minimise pathogen, AMR and excess or increasing nutrient transfer from slurry to environment.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Metagenomics; Antibiotic resistance; Pig slurry treatments; Microbiome; Resistome;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Biology Faculty of Science and Engineering > Research Institutes > Human Health Institute
Item ID:	17747
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119271
Depositing User:	Fiona Walsh
Date Deposited:	25 Oct 2023 14:20
Journal or Publication Title:	Environmental Pollution
Publisher:	Elsevier
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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