Utility of specific biomarkers to assess safety of swine manure for biofertilizing purposes

Swine production is an important economic activity in Brazil, and there is interest in the development of clean production mechanisms to support sustainable agro-industrial activities. The biomass derived from swine manure has good potential to be used as a biofertilizer due to its high nutrient con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment Vol. 479-480; pp. 277 - 283
Main Authors: Fongaro, G., Viancelli, A., Magri, M.E., Elmahdy, E.M., Biesus, L.L., Kich, J.D., Kunz, A., Barardi, C.R.M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01-05-2014
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Summary:Swine production is an important economic activity in Brazil, and there is interest in the development of clean production mechanisms to support sustainable agro-industrial activities. The biomass derived from swine manure has good potential to be used as a biofertilizer due to its high nutrient concentration. However, the land application of manure should be based on safety parameters such as the presence of pathogens that can potentially infect animals and people. This study was designed to assess the presence of porcine circovirus-2 (PCV2), porcine adenovirus (PAdV), rotavirus-A (RV-A) and Salmonella spp. in liquid manure, as well the infectivity of two genotypes of circovirus-2 (PCV2a and PCV2b) present in liquid manure. Three swine farms were evaluated: 1) a nursery production farm (manure analyzed before and after anaerobic biodigestion), 2) a grow–finish production farm (analyzed before and after anaerobic biodigestion), and 3) a second grow–finish production farm (raw manure–affluent). PCV2, PAdV and RV-A were present before and after anaerobic biodigestion (either affluent or effluent) at all farms. Salmonella spp. were detected at farm 1 (affluent and effluent) and farm 3 (raw manure–affluent) but not farm 2 (affluent and effluent). When the ability of the anaerobic biodigestion process to reduce viral concentration was evaluated, no significant reduction was observed (P>0.05). Both the PCV2a and PCV2b genotypes were detected, suggesting viral co-infection in swine production. The results revealed infectious PCV2 even after anaerobic biodigestion treatment. The presence of Salmonella spp. and enteric viruses, especially infectious PCV2, in the final effluent from the anaerobic biodigester system suggests that the process is inefficient for pathogen inactivation. Due to the prevalence and infectivity of PCV2 and considering the successful use of molecular methods coupled to cell culture for detecting infectious PCV2, we suggest that this virus can be used as a bioindicator in swine manure treatment systems to check the efficiency of pathogen inactivation and ensure the production of safe biofertilizers from swine manure. [Display omitted] •Enteric viruses and Salmonella spp. persist even after the anaerobic biodigestion of liquid swine manure•PCV2, PAdV and RVA genomes were positive in 77.5%, 60% and 37.5%, of the samples respectively•Salmonella spp. was found in 40% of the samples collected during the summer and in 15% during the winter•It is necessary to establish more efficient sanitization methods for biofertilizer purposes from swine manure
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ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.02.004