Impact of Production Systems on Swine Confinement Buildings Bioaerosols

Abstract

Hog production has been substantially intensified in Eastern Canada. Hogs are now fattened in swine confinement buildings with controlled ventilation systems and high animal densities. Newly designed buildings are equipped with conventional manure handling and management systems, shallow or deep litter systems, or source separation systems to manage the large volumes of waste. However, the impacts of those alternative production systems on bioaerosol concentrations within the barns have never been evaluated. Bioaerosols were characterized in 18 modern swine confinement buildings, and the differences in bioaerosol composition in the three different production systems were evaluated. Total dust, endotoxins, culturable actinomycetes, fungi, and bacteria were collected with various apparatuses. The total DNA of the air samples was extracted, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to assess the total number of bacterial genomes, as a total (culturable and nonculturable) bacterial assessment. The measured total dust and endotoxin concentrations were not statistically different in the three studied production systems. In buildings with sawdust beds, actinomycetes and molds were found in higher concentrations than in the conventional barns. Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Penicillium, and Scopulariopsis species were identified in all the studied swine confinement buildings. A. flavus, A. terreus, and A. versicolor were abundantly present in the facilities with sawdust beds. Thermotolerant A. fumigatus and Mucor were usually found in all the buildings. The culturable bacteria concentrations were higher in the barns with litters than in the conventional buildings, while real-time PCR revealed nonstatistically different concentrations of total bacteria in all the studied swine confinement buildings. In terms of workers' respiratory health, barns equipped with a solid/liquid separation system may offer better air quality than conventional buildings or barns with sawdust beds. The impact of ventilation rates, air distribution, or building design still has to be explored.

Health and immune traits of Basque and Large White pigs housed in a conventional or enriched environment

“…Differences in lymphocyte proliferation may be induced by differences in the level of immune stimulation of pigs, because of differences in their microbial environment. Sawdust bedding and concrete floor usually marginally differ in the microbial composition of bioaerosols (Letourneau et al, 2010), but the access to an outdoor area might have provided a more diversified microbial environment, although the design of the area (roof, concrete floor, wire fencing) limited the contacts of pigs with wild animals and soil microorganisms. The fact that only LW pigs had an increased proliferation in C environment relative to E environment is in agreement with our leukocyte count and salivary cortisol data, and suggests that LW pigs' adaptive traits are more influenced by the environment than those of B pigs.…”

Characteristics of Microbial Aerosols Released from Chicken and Swine Feces

“…Field studies have also verified that swine/chicken farms that are equipped with slatted floors or systems that separate solid and liquid manure or remove feces regularly have better air quality than farms using conventional systems without separation. 9,20 Therefore, feces, especially chicken feces, should be removed quickly to minimize bacterial aerosols.…”

“…4,10 Swine confinement buildings that are equipped with systems that separate solid and liquid manure have better air quality than conventional systems without such separation. 9 Workers who manually feed nursery pigs suffer from high exposure to airborne bacteria, odors, and H 2 S. 3,[11][12][13] Similarly, the size distribution and concentrations of particulates in swine buildings are affected by the degree of animal activity, ventilation, bedding materials, and floor type. 12, 13 Oppliger and co-workers 2 demonstrated that occupational exposure to inhalable dusts, endotoxins, and bacteria is related to the growth stage of the animals because the biomass of feces and feather dandruff increase drastically during fattening periods.…”

Myeloid Differentiation Factor 88–Dependent Signaling Is Critical for Acute Organic Dust–Induced Airway Inflammation in Mice

“…Because organic dusts from swine confinements contain bacterial DNA (9,11,12) and TLR9 recognizes unmethylated cytosine-phosphateguanine (CpG) oligodeoxynucleotides motifs in bacterial DNA (18), we hypothesized that TLR9 would perform a functional role. was Although we observed no statistically significant reduction in neutrophil, macrophage, and lymphocyte influx in ODEtreated TLR9 KO mice compared with WT mice (P .…”

“…Recent studies identified an abundance and diversity of Gram-positive bacteria in animal feeding confinement operations (6,(9)(10)(11). Furthermore, Archaeobacteria and fungi have also been detected in varying amounts, depending on the geographic region (2,12).…”