Environ. Sci. Technol. 2000, 34, 1275-1279
Use of Carbonate and Alkali To Eliminate Escherichia coli from Dairy Cattle Manure FRANCISCO DIEZ-GONZALEZ,† GRAEME N. JARVIS,† DAVID A. ADAMOVICH,† AND J A M E S B . R U S S E L L * ,†,‡ Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, and Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Ithaca, New York 14853
manure, but temperatures generated are often too low to destroy all the pathogens. Strauch and Ballarini (8) noted that anaerobic digester technology was only suited to largescale animal enterprises, and few such systems have ever been installed. Livestock manure is a mixture of feces and urine, and Scheffer et al. (9) noted that cattle urine had antimicrobial activity. The following experiments sought to (i) determine the effect of urine on the persistence of E. coli in cattle manure, (ii) define antimicrobial substance(s) in cattle urine, and (iii) devise practical methods of treating dairy cattle manure to decrease E. coli and other potential pathogens.
Materials and Methods A procedure to eliminate Escherichia coli in dairy cattle manure was developed. E. coli persisted in fresh manure and farm storage tanks, and viable counts ranged from 105 to 108/g. If the feces to urine ratio of fresh manure was decreased from 2.2 to 1, E. coli did not persist for g10 days (
