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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #277223
Title: Influence of poultry litter and dairy manure on persistence of non-pathogenic E. coli and E. coli O157:H7 in two geographically distinct mid-Atlantic fields

Author
item Millner, Patricia
item Sharma, Manan
item HASHEM, FAWZY - University Of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)
item COTTON, CORRIE - University Of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)
item JONES, KELLY - University Of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/6/2012
Publication Date: 7/22/2012
Citation: Millner, P.D., Sharma, M., Hashem, F., Cotton, C., Jones, K. 2012. Influence of poultry litter and dairy manure on persistence of non-pathogenic E. coli and E. coli O157:H7 in two geographically distinct mid-Atlantic fields. [abstract].

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A study was established to investigate how long non-pathogenic E. coli and E. coli O157:H7 persist in an agricultural environment after application of raw manure to fields intended to grow produce. The study is currently being conducted at two geographically distinct sites: Princess Anne, MD (University of Maryland Eastern Shore, UMES), and Beltsville, MD (Beltsville Area Research Center (BARC) , USDA-ARS. Uniform size field plots were laid out (2 m x 1 m) at both sites. At UMES, plots were treated with either UMES poultry litter or dairy manure solids (from the BARC dairy manure solid-liquids separation system). Non-pathogenic E. coli and E. coli O157:H7 were cultivated in UMES poultry manure extract and sprayed onto plots containing manure treatments. At BARC, manure treatments consisted of dairy manure solids applied to organic and conventionally-managed fields, as well as separate plots with UMES poultry litter, dairy manure solids plus liquid, and dairy manure liquid only. At both sites, plots received both a low and high inoculum of several strains of E. coli. Data collection and analysis is ongoing at both sites and also will involve separate plots with spring application of manure and later leafy green cropping. Data collected here will provide valuable information for the Food and Drug Administration rule-making process for produce as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act. This study is being conducted with the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Produce Safety and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences. This project continues the collaboration between the USDA ARS BARC and 1890 Land Grant Universities.