Nano-selenium mitigates antibiotic resistance in paddy ecosystems via microbiome remodeling and environmental filtering shifts

The dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes within agricultural soil-plant systems poses a severe threat to food safety and public health. This study demonstrates that foliar application of nano-selenium fertilizer effectively reduces ARG abundance in the soil, phyllosphere, and rice grains. We found that nano-selenium functions not by direct bactericidal action but by beneficially reshaping the microbial communities in both the leaves and soil, thereby suppressing the pathways for ARG transmission. Our findings provide a novel and sustainable strategy to mitigate antibiotic resistance in agricultural ecosystems, potentially reducing the risk of these genes entering the human food chain via rice.