agricultural-contamination
Agricultural contamination refers to the introduction of harmful substances—such as pesticides, heavy metals, fertilizer runoff, and industrial pollutants—into soil and water systems used for crop production. These contaminants can disrupt plant physiology, inhibit nutrient uptake, damage root systems, and accumulate in plant tissues, ultimately affecting crop yield and food safety. Understanding how plants respond to and tolerate various contaminants is essential for developing strategies to remediate polluted soils and breed more resilient crops.
PubMed · 2026-04-10
Antibiotic resistance genes from livestock farms are building up in nearby soils and spreading deeper into the ground, with farm type and soil chemistry strongly shaping how far and how fast they travel.
Antibiotic concentrations were highest in soils from layer (chicken) farms and declined significantly with soil depth across all three farm types.
Environmental factors explained 74–82% of the variation in antibiotic resistance genes across pig, cattle, and layer farms, highlighting soil chemistry as a key driver of resistance spread.
Sulfonamide resistance genes were the most abundant of the six resistance gene types detected, while quinolone resistance genes were the least common.