The fate ofEscherichia coliandE. coliO157 in cattle slurry after application to land

Abstract

SUMMARY The fate of both faecal Escherichia coli and E. coli O157 in slurry following application to arable and grass plots on a clay loam soil was studied. Slurry (5% dry matter) containing 53 × 104 ml−1 E. coli and 30 E. coli O157 100 ml−1 was spread in early March. Initially, almost all E. coli were retained in the upper layers of the soil. Escherichia coli numbers steadily declined to less than 1% of those applied by day 29, and E. coli O157 were only detected in the soil and on the grass for the first week after application. There was some transport of bacteria to deeper layers of the soil, but this was approximately 2% of the total; transport to drains over the same period was mainly associated with rainfall events and amounted to approximately 7% of applied E. coli. However, there were indications that periods of heavy rainfall could cause significant losses of E. coli by both leaching and run‐off. Experimental studies showed that E. coli O157 on grass, which was subsequently ensiled in conditions allowing aerobic spoilage, could multiply to numbers exceeding 106 g−1 in the silage.

Quantitative risk assessment of human infection from Escherichia coli O157 associated with recreational use of animal pasture

“…However, once faeces have become mixed with soil, ingestion is more likely. The model developed in this paper, assumes that the faeces is mixed homogeneously in the top 1 cm of soil which is in broad agreement with the experimental results (Fenlon et al, 2000;Strachan et al, 2001).…”

“…Since the proportion of organisms with this long survival factor is low ( < 5%, Ogden et al, 2001b), they have been ignored in the current study as the probability of human infection arising from their direct ingestion is thought to be small. Soil type may also need to be considered as Fenlon et al (2000) showed decay to be faster in sandy soils compared with clay and loam.…”

“…Studies (Wang et al, 1996;Himathongkham et al, 1999;Fenlon et al, 2000) have described the fate of E. coli O157 in cattle faeces and slurries. The work by Wang et al showed that at warmer temperatures (22 and 37°C), there is initial growth of the organism followed by rapid decline.…”

Development of a risk-based index for source water protection planning, which supports the reduction of pathogens from agricultural activity entering water resources

“…Bacteria can survive longer in cold soils and fine textured soils (Fenlon et al, 2000). In cold soils (o5 1C) E. coli can survive for up to 100 days.…”

Survival and retention ofEschenchia coliO157:H7 andCampylobacterin contrasting soils from the Toenepi catchment

“…E. co/zO157:H7 survives well in the environment with recovery for up to 70 days reported from bovine faeces (Wang et al 1996) and for 63 days from pasture (Hutchison et al 2005). It has been reported that E. coliO157:H7 can be leached from a range of soil types after rainfall (Fenlon et al 2000;Gagliardi & Karns 2000). Islam et al (2005) recovered^, coli O157:H7 from carrots and onions harvested from plots that had been sown following application of contaminated manure or irrigation water.…”