Microbiological, physical and chemical studies of Livestock-farm water in Taiwan

Abstract

The properties of drinking water from 42 hog farms, including pH, color, turbidity, total soluble solids, concentrations of ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen, chlorine, fluorine, sulphate, calcium, copper, zinc, iron, manganese and chromium were investigated. The total number of coliforms, fecal coliforms, fecal streptococci and standard plate counts of both drinking water and waste water were also studied. It was found that all the waste water and some of the drinking water was polluted. The major pollutant was hog feces. The culture counts of aerobic Gram-negative bacilli of fresh feces and fecal polluted water on one hog farm were examined in detail by using selective media. There were 364 strains of pure cultures isolated from MacConkey agar. The biochemical characteristics of the isolates on the triple sugar iron agar, Simmon's citrate agar, Christensen's urea agar, sulfide-indole-motility medium, Voges-Proskauer broth, Moller's ornithine decarboxylase medium, etc., were investigated. Microbial identification was carried out according to a computer-coding system based on the characteristics shown in the above media. The identified species were Escherichia coli (71%), Enterobacter agglomerans (6%), Enterobacter cloacae, Citrobacter freundii, Citrobacter diversus, Citrobacter amalonaticus, Aeromonas hydrophila, Arizona hinshawii, Vibrio sp., Hafnia alvei (Enterobacter hafniae), Chromobacterium violaceum, Yersinia enterocolitica, Plesiomonas shigelloides, Serratia liquefaciens, Pectobacterium sp., Proteus mirabilis, Edwardsiella tarda, Vibrio vulnificus, Provindencia rettgeri, Provindencia alcalifaciens, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella ozaenae, Klebsiella sp., Shigella sp., Morganella morganii, Serratia marcescens and Vibrio (EF-6) group F. The significance of these isolates for public health is discussed.