Project Number: 6226-63000-003-16
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: Sep 01, 2008
End Date: Sep 30, 2012

Objective:
The objectives of this project are to: (1) measure pathogen concentrations in poultry litter and cattle manure; (2) evaluate factors that affect pathogen runoff from poultry litter from small plots; (3) determine the impact of best management practices on pathogen runoff from pastures fertilized with poultry litter; and (4) correlate the numbers of indicator organisms to specific pathogens.

Approach:
We will determine the factors that effect pathogen fate/transport from pastures and measure the effects of BMPs on reducing these losses. Small plot studies using rainfall simulators will be used to evaluate the effects of: 1) time after manure application; 2) type of manure (poultry, swine, beef, dairy and biosolids); 3) manure treatments (composting, chemical addition); and 4) weather (season/temperature) on pathogen runoff. II. We will determine the effect of land use, landscape position, and BMPs on pathogen transport from small watersheds by measuring the effect of the following treatments: 1) grazing/pasture management; 2) poultry litter application methods; 3) chemical treatment of poultry litter; 4) chemical treatment of biosolids, and 5) different landscape positions and flow pathways. We will assess the viability of using indicator organisms and microbe tracking tools at the watershed scale by: 1) conducting correlation studies with data obtained from the studies above to see if E. coli or other indicator counts are related to specific pathogens present in runoff water from fields fertilized with poultry and/or beef manure; and 2) evaluating the effectiveness, cost, and practicality of tracking tools used to investigate pathogen sources within watersheds.