Contamination of Escherichia coli Miguli and Salmonella spp. in Soils and Vegetables Planting by Application of Composted and Non-composted Cow Manures

Abstract

Mostly, contamination of Escherichia   coli  and   Salmonella  spp.,   always   expose   when   using  non-composted   cow   manure  as  organic  fertilizer   for  growing vegetables,   However,  composting  the  manure   for  at  least 98  days  is  enable  to   either   decrease  or    decontaminate  these   microbes,   This   research   was   aimed   to  compare  the   contamination   of   E,  coli  and   Salmonella  spp. in soil and   plants  by  application  of   composted  and  non-composted   cow  manures,  This  experiment  was  designed as a  split   plot  with  3  replications   where   main   plots  were kind   of   vegetables   namely  asparagus, kale, coriander, stink weed,  and   peppermint, while  the  subplots  were  the  kind  of fertilizer (composted  cow  manure, non-composted  cow manure   and  without  manure).Research  work  was  carried out  at  Mae   Hai   Agricultural  Research  Station  and  Training  Centre,  Chiang  Mai University  during  January-April 2010. Soil  from  each  treatment  was  periodically sampled  at  7,21,35 and 49  days  after  planting,  while   sampling  of  vegetables  was  done  once  at  49  days    for determination  of  E. coli and  Salmonella  spp.  Application of composted   cow  manure  did  not  show  any  contamination of E. coli  in  either  soil  or  vegetable  samples, except  that of asparagus growing soil at  49  days. On the other hand,   using of non-composted   manure resulted in contamination of both E. coli in all soils (3.29-4.93 log MPN/g) and asparagus. Kale, coriander and stink weed at 2.78, 3.11, 4.38 and 2.78 log MPN/g, respectively with the exception of peppermint. Contamination of Salmonella spp. In soils of all treatments was fluctuated upon sampling period. However, most of vegetables fertilized by non-composted cow manure were contaminated with Salmonella, except peppermint, but the contamination was not found in those using of composted cow manure. This finding ensures that the application of composted cow manure could effectively decrease the possibility of contamination E. coli and Salmonella spp. In farmed vegetables.