This study examined the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance associated with E. coli which is an indicator organism of contamination in shrimp ponds of Vannamei culture. A total of 173 isolates were isolated from 60 shrimp samples of selected areas of Maharashtra and were evaluated for isolation, identification and antibiotic sensitivity pattern for E. coli. Out of 173 isolates 67 isolates were found to be E. coli positive which is of 39.2 %. The antimicrobial resistance profile of the tested Escherichia coli isolates to 12 different antibiotics revealed that all 67 isolates were sensitive to Furazolidone, Nalidixic acid, Neomycin, Nitrofurantoin, Norfloxacin, Trimethoprim whereas, the isolates showed resistant to ampicillin (75%) and Erythromycin (61%). The molecular characterization of erm genes which is predominantly associated with resistance among Enterococcus spp showed that 61.2% of the isolated E. coli were positive for ermB gene, whereas 42.5% of the isolates showed positive for ermC gene.

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