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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Riverside, California » Agricultural Water Efficiency and Salinity Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #377751
Research Project: Identifying, Quantifying and Tracking Microbial Contaminants, Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Order to Protect Food and Water Supplies

Location: Agricultural Water Efficiency and Salinity Research Unit

Title: Persistence of Salmonella Typhimurium in apple-pear (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd.) orchard soils influenced by bacterial communities and soil properties

Author
item LIAO, JIAFEN - Jilin University
item LI, JIAHANG - Jilin University
item HAN, ZIMING - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item LYU, GUANGZE - Jilin University
item Ibekwe, Abasiofiok - Mark
item MA, JINCAI - Jilin University

Submitted to: Science of the Total Environment
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/7/2020
Publication Date: 1/9/2021
Citation: Liao, J., Li, J., Han, Z., Lyu, G., Ibekwe, A.M., Ma, J. 2021. Persistence of Salmonella Typhimurium in apple-pear (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd.) orchard soils influenced by bacterial communities and soil properties. Science of the Total Environment. 768. Article 144458. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144458.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144458

Interpretive Summary: Salmonella is a zoonotic foodborne bacterial pathogen that can cause severe health abnormalities, such as fever, vomiting and diarrhea, especially for individuals with low immunity. In the United States, approximately 1.2 million people are infected with Salmonella annually resulting in about 450 deaths. In this study, we collected 26 soils from apple-pear orchards from three areas in northeast China in the vicinity of cow pastures. Survival of Salmonella was between 20 to 120 days. Clay content, pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and nitrate-nitrogen were the major factors influencing the survival of this pathogen. The results of this research will be used by growers, researchers, FSIS, FDA, and different state agencies that are involved in specialty crop production.

Technical Abstract: In this study, we investigated the persistence of Salmonella Typhimurium in 26 soil samples from apple-pear orchards in Yanji, Longjing and Helong in northeastern China. The time to reach detection limit (ttds) of Salmonella Typhimurium in soils varied from 20 to 120 days. Redundancy analysis and variation partition analysis elucidated that bacterial communities, clay content, pH, electrical conductivity (EC) salinity, and NO3-–N could explain more than 85% of overall variation of the persistence behaviors. Results of structural equation models and Mantel tests revealed that clay content and EC displayed both direct and indirect effect on ttds, while NO3-–N and pH exhibited direct and indirect effect on the survival patterns, respectively. Furthermore, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria at class level showed highly close correlations with ttds. Our results revealed that certain biotic and abiotic factors could greatly contribute to the overall persistence of Salmonella in apple-pear orchard soils.