Understanding the challenge of resistance in agriculture

The UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is seeking to stimulate innovative research to understand and help address the development in weeds, pests, parasites or pathogens of resistance to agents used for countering them.

 

The emergence and spread of resistance to chemical agents used for countering pathogens or pests is a matter of growing concern, particularly the evolution of so-called “superbugs”, resistant to multiple antibacterial agents. These have attracted considerable attention from scientists, policy-makers and the media, but the problem is much broader. Agriculture faces challenges from resistance to antibacterial agents, as well as to a wide range of other agents used in crop protection or veterinary practice, including many classes of fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and anti-parasitic compounds.
 

The productivity and quality of crops, and the health and welfare of farmed animals, are maintained by the use of chemical agents for preventing and treating infections by pathogens or infestations by pests. Without such agents, crop losses and waste would be greater and animal health would be compromised, with implications also for food safety. However, resistance amongst their target organisms is increasingly frequent and widespread. Examples with major consequences for crop production include resistances to multiple classes of fungicides, herbicides and insecticides, respectively, in the wheat pathogen Septoria tritici, the arable weed Alopecurus myosuroides, and the aphid Myzus persicae. In livestock farming, similar situations exist with resistance to agents used for the management of endo- or ectoparasites.
 

Resistance to many existing products is exacerbated by a dearth of new agents coming to market. It is compounded by regulatory requirements, including changes that have already resulted in the withdrawal or restricted use of some agents, and are likely to further reduce the range permitted in future. As the variety of available agents reduces, the more likely it is that pathogens or pests will develop resistance to the fewer remaining types as greater use is made of them. This highlight aims to inform interventions for countering resistance that would help to enhance the effectiveness and extend the lifetime of existing products, or optimise the future use of new ones, by delaying its development.

 

Antibacterial resistance and its associated threat to human health has a high profile, and relevant research is being funded by a number of UK agencies, including BBSRC. The Council’s support for that area includes both a responsive-mode priority in Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), and partnership in a cross-Research Council thematic programme in Tackling AMR.