Transport Of Fecal Bacteria From Poultry Litter and Cattle Manures Applied to Pastureland

Abstract

Land applications of manure from confined animal systems and direct deposit by grazing animals are both major sources of bacteria in streams. An understanding of the overland transport mechanisms from land applied waste is needed to improve design of best management practices (BMPs) and modeling of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution. Plots were established on pasturelands receiving phosphorus-based livestock waste applications to measure the concentrations of Escherichia coli (E. coli), fecal coliform (FC), and Enterococcus present in overland flow at the edge of the field. The flow-weighted bacteria concentrations were highest in runoff samples from the plots treated with cowpies (1.37 × 10 5 colony forming units (cfu)/100 ml of E. coli) followed by liquid dairy manure (1.84 × 10 4 cfu/100 ml of E. coli) and turkey litter (1.29 × 10 4 cfu/100 ml of E. coli). The temporal distribution of fecal bacterial concentrations appeared to be dependent upon both the animal waste treatment and the indicator species, with peak concentrations occurring either at the beginning of the runoff event or during peak flow rates. BMPs could be selected to reduce peak flows or first flush effects depending upon the litter or manure applied to the land. The commercial Biolog System was used to identify the dominant species of Enterococcus present in the cowpie source manure (Enterococcus mundtii 55%) and in the runoff collected from the transport plots treated with cowpies (Enterococcus faecalis 37%). The identification of predominant species of Enterococcus that are associated with specific sources of fecal pollution could greatly assist with identifying the origins of NPS pollution.

Relating Watershed Characteristics to Elevated Stream Escherichia coli Levels in Agriculturally Dominated Landscapes: An Iowa Case Study

“…For example, Animal waste can enter water bodies from leaking or overflowing waste lagoons or through runoff from fields amended with animal manure [1][2][3][4]. In many watersheds, wildlife such as geese and deer are a significant source of E. coli [5][6][7].…”

Bacterial Transport from Agricultural Lands Fertilized with Animal Manure

“…Several researchers have attempted to quantify the amount of indicator bacteria transported in runoff from pastures where animal waste has been applied (Doran and Linn 1979;Edwards et al 2000;Kunkle 1970;Soupir et al 2006) and from feedlots (Miner et al 1966;Young et al 1980). Moore et al (1988) summarized several researches reporting indicator bacteria concentration in runoff from pasture, grazing systems, cropland and feedlot.…”

Correlation of Quantitative PCR for a Poultry-Specific Brevibacterium Marker Gene with Bacterial and Chemical Indicators of Water Pollution in a Watershed Impacted by Land Application of Poultry Litter

“…In lab studies, the simulated field runoff from turkey litter-amended plots has been shown to contain 1.3 ϫ 10 4 CFU 100 ml Ϫ1 of E. coli, 1.8 ϫ 10 4 CFU 100 ml Ϫ1 of fecal coliforms, and 6.6 ϫ 10 3 CFU 100 ml Ϫ1 of Enterococcus spp. (45).…”