Annual Review of Phytopathology (2002) 40, 443-465

Patricia S. McManus, Virginia O. Stockwell, George W. Sundin and Alan L. Jones (2002)
Antibiotic use in plant agriculture
Annual Review of Phytopathology 40, 443-465
Abstract: Antibiotics have been used since the 1950s to control certain bacterial diseases of high-value fruit, vegetable, and ornamental plants. Today, the antibiotics most commonly used on plants are oxytetracycline and streptomycin. In the USA, antibiotics applied to plants account for less than 0.5% of total antibiotic use. Resistance of plant pathogens to oxytetracycline is rare, but the emergence of streptomycin-resistant strains of Erwinia amylovora, Pseudomonas spp., and Xanthomonas campestris has impeded the control of several important diseases. A fraction of streptomycin-resistance genes in plant-associated bacteria are similar to those found in bacteria isolated from humans, animals, and soil, and are associated with transfer-proficient elements. However, the most common vehicles of streptomycin-resistance genes in human and plant pathogens are genetically distinct. Nonetheless, the role of antibiotic use on plants in the antibiotic-resistance crisis in human medicine is the subject of debate.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Virginia O. Stockwell, George W. Sundin

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
control - general
pesticide resistance of pest

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Erwinia amylovora
	Pseudomonas (genus)
	Xanthomonas campestris