Pathogen prevalence and influence of composted dairy manure application on antimicrobial resistance profiles of commensal soil bacteria.

Abstract Composting manure, if done properly, should kill pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7, providing for an environmentally safe product. Over a 3-year period, samples of composted dairy manure, representing 11 composting operations (two to six samples per producer; 100 total samples), were screened for Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 and were all culture negative. Nonpathogenic bacteria were cultured from these compost samples that could theoretically facilitate the spread of antimicrobial resistance from the dairy to compost application sites. Therefore, we collected soil samples (three samples per plot; 10 plots/treatment; 90 total samples) from rangeland that received either composted dairy manure (CP), commercial fertilizer (F), or no treatment (control, CON). Two collections were made appoximately 2 and 7 months following treatment application. Soil samples were cultured for Pseudomonas and Enterobacter and confirmed isolates subjected to antimicrobial susceptibili...