Abstract:
The agricultural ecosystem creates a platform for the development and dissemination
of antimicrobial resistance, which is promoted by the indiscriminate use of antibiotics
in the veterinary, agricultural, and medical sectors. This results in the selective
pressure for the intrinsic and extrinsic development of the antimicrobial resistance
phenomenon, especially within the aquaculture-animal-manure-soil-water-plant
nexus. The existence of antimicrobial resistance in the environment has been well
documented in the literature. However, the possible transmission routes of antimicrobial
agents, their resistance genes, and naturally selected antibiotic-resistant
bacteria within and between the various niches of the agricultural environment and
humans remain poorly understood. This study, therefore, outlines an overview of the
discovery and development of commonly used antibiotics; the timeline of resistance
development; transmission routes of antimicrobial resistance in the agro-ecosystem;
detection methods of environmental antimicrobial resistance determinants; factors
involved in the evolution and transmission of antibiotic resistance in the environment
and the agro-ecosystem; and possible ways to curtail the menace of antimicrobial
resistance.
