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Environmental Load of Cryptosporidium parvum Oocysts from Cattle Manure in Feedlots from the Central and Western United States
Author(s) -
Atwill Edward R.,
Pereira Maria Das Gracas C.,
Alonso L. Herrera,
Elmi Cyrus,
Epperson William B.,
Smith Robert,
Riggs Walter,
Carpenter Linda V.,
Dargatz David A.,
Hoar Bruce
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq2005.0099
Subject(s) - feedlot , cryptosporidium parvum , feces , manure , beef cattle , cryptosporidium , zoology , veterinary medicine , biology , environmental science , ecology , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine
The first step in assessing the risk of water contamination by Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts from feedlot cattle ( Bos taurus ) production systems is to quantify the number of C. parvum oocysts present in the fecal material deposited by feedlot cattle. Our primary objective for this project was to estimate the daily environmental load of C. parvum oocysts in fecal material deposited by feedlot cattle from across the central and western USA. Our secondary goal was to genotype isolates of C. parvum from feedlot cattle to help facilitate proper identification of mammalian sources of waterborne C. parvum Based on 5274 fecal samples from 22 feedlots in seven states (California, Washington, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, and South Dakota), we estimated a point prevalence of C. parvum of 0.99 to 1.08% in fecal material from feedlot pens from a wide range of climates and a diverse range of feedlot management systems. On average, fresh fecal material from throughout feedlot systems (recent arrivals to nearing slaughter) contained about 1.3 to 3.6 oocysts/g feces, which roughly translates to about 2.8 × 10 4 to 1.4 × 10 5 oocysts/animal perday.