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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Bowling Green, Kentucky » Food Animal Environmental Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #412800

Research Project: Developing Agronomically and Environmentally Beneficial Management Practices to Increase the Sustainability and Safety of Animal Manure Utilization

Location: Food Animal Environmental Systems Research

Title: Biochar broiler house amendment reduces contamination with extended spectrum beta-lactamase producing E. coli

Author
item Agga, Getahun
item Lovanh, Nanh
item Sistani, Karamat

Submitted to: Research Workers in Animal Diseases Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/18/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Biochar has been shown to reduce ammonia emission, which is particularly important health problem in broiler chicken houses. However, the potential benefit of biochar as an intervention to reduce antimicrobial resistance in food animal production is not studied. The objective of the project was to evaluate the impact of biochar poultry litter amendment as a mitigation measure to reduce the prevalence of extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli in broiler production system. Biochar was surface applied to the back half of house 1 before day old chicken were placed. After the brooding period, the back of the house was opened, and the chicken were allowed to freely move. House 2 was not amended with biochar and left as control. Poultry litter samples were collected as grab samples on days 0 (baseline), 9, 23, 40 and 56 (at harvest) from the floors of the two broiler chicken houses over one full grow cycle. Samples were pre-enriched in peptone water and streaked on commercially available CHROMagar ESBL. A single isolated colony typical of ESBL-producing E. coli was re-streaked onto a second plate to obtain a pure colony and confirmed by PCR. Data were analyzed using logistic regression. Biochar poultry house amendment significantly reduced the prevalence of ESBL-producing E. coli compared to no amendment (OR= 0.3; 95% CI=0.17-0.49). The prevalence of ESBL-producing E. coli sequentially increased from the front to the back of the broiler houses showing distinct spatial variation, regardless of biochar amendment. Similarly, the prevalence increased with the age of the chicken, reaching the maximum at 23 days of age. In conclusion, biochar can be utilized to mitigate the burden of antibiotic resistant bacteria in broiler production. Furthermore, significant spatial and temporal variations occur with respect to the dynamics of ESBLs-producing E. coli within broiler chicken production system.