Transport and attenuation of Salmonella enterica, fecal indicator bacteria and a poultry litter marker gene are correlated in soil columns

Abstract

Millions of tons of fecal-contaminated poultry litter are applied to U.S. agricultural fields annually. Precipitation and irrigation facilitate transport of fecal-derived pathogens and fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) to groundwater. The goal of this study was to compare transport of pathogens, FIB, and a microbial source tracking marker gene for poultry litter (LA35) in a simulated soil-to-groundwater system. Nine laboratory soil columns containing four different soil types were used to evaluate microbial transport to groundwater via infiltration. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to monitor Salmonella enterica Typhimurium, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus spp., Brevibacterium sp. LA35 and Bacteroidales leached from soil columns inoculated with poultry litter. S. enterica was correlated with LA35 poultry litter marker gene and FIB concentrations in column soils containing organic matter, but not in acid washed sands. In contrast, S. enterica was found to correlate with LA35 and FIB in the leachate from columns containing sand, but not with leachate from organic soil columns. The majority of recovered DNA was found in leachate of predominately sandy soil columns, and in the soil of loamy columns. At least 90% of the DNA retained in soils for each microbial target was found in the top 3cm of the column. These studies suggest that poultry litter associated pathogens and FIB are rapidly released from litter, but are influenced by complex attenuation mechanisms during infiltration, including soil type. This study advances our understanding of the potential for subsurface transport of poultry litter associated pathogens and FIB, and support the use of the LA35 marker gene for evaluating poultry litter impacts on groundwater.

Chrysomya megacephala larvae feeding favourably influences manure microbiome, heavy metal stability and greenhouse gas emissions

“…Common Salmonella sp. are faecal indicator bacteria (Mantha et al ., ) and were significantly reduced after C. megacephala‐ treated swine manure (Fig. ).…”

“…Salmonella sp. are faecal indicators in wastewater (Mantha et al, 2017), which suggested that C. megacephala composting might reduce the risk in Salmonella Enteritidis, a standout foodborne disease worldwide (Borges et al, 2017). Based on the correlation analysis of Pseudomonas, Prevotella and heavy metal speciation (Fig.…”

Fecal pollution: new trends and challenges in microbial source tracking using next‐generation sequencing

“…Contamination with human fecal material from untreated sewage poses the greatest health risk because of the host specificity of many pathogens (Eisenberg et al, 2016), especially viruses. However, contamination from some animal sources, such as livestock and poultry, also poses a health risk due to the presence of pathogenic bacteria, such as Campylobacter, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, as well as the protozoa Giardia and Cryptosporidium (Bradshaw et al, 2016;Ehsan et al, 2015;Haack et al, 2016;Mantha et al, 2017). There is an indeterminate risk associated with non-point source pollution events, such as fecal deposition from some wildlife.…”

Identification of Factors Affecting Fecal Pollution in Beaver Lake Reservoir

“…A study by Li et al (2015) reported relatively low sensitivity of the LA35 marker when applied to poultry litter samples, although the authors did not compare with the CL marker or any other poultry‐specific marker. Unfortunately, additional studies using the LA35 poultry marker did not apply the marker to environmental waters, but rather to experimental microcosms to evaluate persistence (Nayak et al, 2015; Mantha et al, 2017). Therefore, this is the first study to evaluate both poultry‐specific markers within a single watershed over a prolonged period of time.…”