Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE
(N/A)
IRVINE,CA 92697
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This project studieshow effective the newrules and technologies are in reducing the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria on dairy farms, and how this can lower health risks to people, especially through food. The project will focus on four main goals:Assessing the impact of regulations: How well do rules to limit antibiotic use in animals work to reduce resistance?Evaluating manure treatments: How well do new methods for treating animal waste help remove antibiotic-resistant bacteria?Understanding health risks: How do food and manure management practices affect the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and health risks?Education and outreach: Helping farmers and the public understand these issues better.The project will first look at data collected from U.S. dairy farms over the past 10 years to see how antibiotic resistance changed after rules were put in place to limit antibiotic use in animals. The team will also collect new samples from farms in California and Iowa to continue studying these trends. They will use both lab-based and advanced DNA sequencing methods to check for antibiotic-resistant E. coli, a harmful bacteria.The project will also test new technologies for treating manure on eight different dairies to see how effective they are at removing resistant bacteria. Finally, the researchers will use a model to estimate how these bacteria could affect both farmers and consumers.The ultimate goal is to improve how antibiotics are used on farms and help reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance, contributing to the global fight against this growing health threat.
Animal Health Component
75%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
15%
Applied
75%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
This projectaims to evaluate the effectiveness of regulatory interventions and manure management technologies in mitigating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on dairies and the associated reduction of pathogenic antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) on fresh produce and health risks. The project will address USDA Strategic Plan Goal 4, area 3e "Mitigating Antimicrobial Resistance Across the Food Chain". Both culture-based and metagenomic methods will be used to address four key objectives: 1) Assess the effectiveness of regulative interventions on AMR reduction; 2) Evaluate the manure treatment technologies for AMR removal; 3) Quantify AMR health risk through food exposure and manure management; 4) Extension, outreach, communication and education. Existing metagenomic data from U.S. dairies collected over the past 10 years will be first analyzed to understand AMR trends before and after the implementation of Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) to limit antibiotic use in food animals. The post-VFD data will be supplemented by a systematic sample collection and metagenomic sequencing from diverse dairy farms in California and Iowa. Culture-based analysis for antibiotic resistant pathogenic E. coli will provide validation of metagenomic observations. Evaluation of new manure treatment technologies will be carried out on eight dairies adopting different treatment methods. A novel dose-response model for ARB will be used in quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) to assess the farmers and consumers risk of developing antibiotic resistant infections. This project is shaped by deep stakeholder integration at multiple stages. The outcomes will enhance the antibiotic stewardship in agriculture and contribute to global effort of combating AMR.
Project Methods
Efforts:Data collection and miningField sampling,analysis and achieveBench analysis and data curationModel development and optimizationWorkshop, survey and course modulesCommuniction and concense buildingEvaluation:Data collection and analysisBenchmarkingQuantificationContinue improvement strategies