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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #109933
Title: GASTROINTESTINAL ACIDOSIS AND ITS EFFECT ON ESCHERICHIA COLI IN CATTLE

Author
item JARVIS, G - CORNELL UNIVERSITY
item Russell, James

Submitted to: American Association of Bovine Practitioners Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/21/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Escherichia coli is a normal inhabitant of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of warm blooded animals, and most E. coli strains are harmless. However, cattle can carry strains (e.g O157:H7) that are pathogenic in humans. Recent work indicated that grain feeding, a practice common in the cattle industry, can alter increase the extreme acid-resistance of E. coli, but a brief period of hay feeding was able to counteract this potentially dangerous effect. Extreme acid resistance is a trait that facilitates the survival of E. coli in the low pH of the gastric stomach. Diet shifts (grain to hay) can also decrease the number of cattle that shed E. coli O157:H7.