Survival of Manure-borne Escherichia coli and Fecal Coliforms in Soil: Temperature Dependence as Affected by Site-Specific Factors

Abstract

Understanding pathogenic and indicator bacteria survival in soils is essential for assessing the potential of microbial contamination of water and produce. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of soil properties, animal source, experimental conditions, and the application method on temperature dependencies of manure-borne generic Escherichia coli, E. coli O157: H7, and fecal coliforms survival in soils. A literature search yielded 151 survival datasets from 70 publications. Either one-stage or two-stage kinetics was observed in the survival datasets. We used duration and rate of the logarithm of concentration change as parameters of the first stage in the two-stage kinetics data. The second stage of the two-stage kinetics and the one-stage kinetics were simulated with the Q(10) model to find the dependence of the inactivation rate on temperature. Classification and regression trees and linear regressions were applied to parameterize the kinetics. Presence or absence of two-stage kinetics was controlled by temperature, soil texture, soil water content, and for fine-textured soils by setting experiments in the field or in the laboratory. The duration of the first stage was predominantly affected by soil water content and temperature. In the Q(10) model dependencies of inactivation rates on temperature, parameter Q(10) estimates were significantly affected by the laboratory versus field conditions and by the application method, whereas inactivation rates at 20 degrees C were significantly affected by all survival and management factors. Results of this work can provide estimates of coliform survival parameters for models of microbial water quality.