Disinfection of Water Used for Human and Animal Consumption

This chapter deals with disinfection of water used for human and animal consumption. Water is the most abundant chemical component of the Earth and is very extensively used by mankind. Anthropogenic pressure on the environment leads to decrease in water quality. The quality of water is determined using the most important range of parameters (physical, chemical, and microbiological). This chapter discusses major pollutants of water, protection of water sources, micro-organisms causing the main waterborne diseases and methods of treatment, and disinfection of water. Different methods are used to disinfect drinking water. One of the most frequently used methods is disinfection with active chlorine, which is the only method providing continuous protection against microbial regrowth. However, this method has also some disadvantages (e.g., formation of trihalomethane and haloacetic acid precursors) linked to increased risk of cancer. It is important to remember that none of the products used to disinfect water is capable of ensuring complete safety of treated water if the water comes from unsuitable sources

PERCEPTION OF APPLIED ECOLOGY BY SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Applied ecology is a science that manages ecosystems including conservation, harvesting and animal and plant control. Environmental attitudes of secondary school students include their psychological tendency towards the environment. The study concentrates on secondary school students in the Košice Region, in Slovakia. Using Google Forms a questionnaire was delivered to 1,012 secondary school students from the mentioned region. From the participants 59.3% were female and 40.7% were male students. The most numerous age category was 17-year-old secondary school students. 76.6% were students at a secondary school with a general certificate of secondary education (GCSE), 22.1% at a grammar school and 1.3% at a secondary school without a GCSE. Based on the results of the questionnaire most students are interested in the quality of the environment on average and there is no student absolutely not interested in the quality of the environment regardless of the school type. No students, regardless of the school type, consider there is absolutely no impact of all anthropogenic activities on the quality of the environment. As to the assessment of environmental quality in the place of permanent residence and the knowledge of drinking water quality there is no conformity depending on the type of school. The most students save water on average regardless of the school type. There are no students definitely not saving energy in their households, but there is no compliance on saving energy in the households depending on the type of school. There are no students definitely not separating waste in their households and only a few students that rather not separate waste but most students definitely separate waste regardless of the school type

New trends in the use of recycled manure solids in dairy housing

Article Details: Received: 2020-10-14 | Accepted: 2020-11-27 | Available online: 2021-01-31https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2021.24.mi-prap.109-113The aim of the study was to compare improved bedding composition with conventional straw bedding under farm conditions, regarding its effects on the indicator microorganisms influencing hygiene levels. Dairy cows were housed in newly-built stables divided into two parts each with four sections and bedded cubicles arranged in three rows. In the first part, the bedded cubicle floors were layered with straw up to a height of 20 cm. In the second part, the cubicles were layered to a height of 20 cm with improved bedding composition consisting of recycled manure solids (RMS; 10 kg), ground limestone (200 kg), straw (40 kg) and water (110 l). After layering the bedding was treated with a concrete selector to provide strength and sufficient resistance. Samples for microbiological examination were taken from four sections according to the time interval of production and bedding. From three sections were taken bedding samples according to a new recipe in intervals of 1-3 months after its use. A control sample of bedding, consisting of straw, was taken from the last, fourth section. Comparing classical straw bedding with the improved recipe bedding, the total viable count (TVC) and coliforms bacteria (CB) in a first and second month after laying were found to be reduced. In addition to TVC and CB, decreased numbers of faecal coliforms (FC) and faecal streptococci (FS) were observed in the first, second and third months after layering. In addition to reducing the number of microorganisms, the improved bedding showed a stabilizing effect by keeping the litter thickness up to the bedding threshold (200 mm), which has a beneficial effect for increased purity of the body and udder.Keywords: dairy cows, housing, hygiene, improved bedding, microorganismsReferences Bradley, A.  et al. (2018). The impact of dairy cows’ bedding material and its microbial content on the quality and safety of milk–A cross sectional study of UK farms. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 23(269), 36–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2017.12.022Brouček, J. et al. (2015). Impact of gestation and lactation stage on the dairy cow response following removal to unfamiliar housing and milking system. Italian Journal of Animal Scince, 14(2), 233–237.https://doi.org/10.4081/ijas.2015.3410Fournel, S. et al. (2018). Production of recycled manure solids for bedding in Canadian dairy farms: I. Solid-liquid separation. Journal of Dairy Science, 102(2), 1832–1846. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2018-14966Heinonen-Tanski,  H. et al. (2006). Methods to reduce pathogen microorganisms in manure. Livestock Science, 102(3), 248–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2006.03.024Ismaïl, R. et al. (2013). Methods for recovering microorganisms from solid surfaces used in the food industry: a review of the literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(11), 6169–6183.https://dx.doi.org/10.3390%2Fijerph10116169Maiorano, G. (2014). Livestock Production for a Sustainable Development. J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. Food Sci. 3, 34–38. Available online: https://www.jmbfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/10_jmbfs_maiorano_2014_fs.pdfLeach, K. A. et al. (2015). Recycling manure as cow bedding: Potential benefits and risks for UK dairy farms. Vet. J., 206, 123-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2015.08.013Popescu, S. et al. (2014). The effect of the housing system on the welfare quality of dairy cows. Italian Journal of Animal Scince, 13(1), 2940. https://doi.org/10.4081/ijas.2014.2940 Tančin, V. et al. 2013. Livestock farming in marginal areas (In Slovak), CVŽV, Nitra, Slovakia 2013. p. 70. ISBN 978-80-89418-26-8. Wolfe, T. et al. (2018). Effects of alternative deep bedding options on dairy cow preference, lying behavior, cleanliness, and teat end contamination. Journal of Dairy Science,101(1), 530-536. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2016-12358

Dairy Cows’ Udder Pathogens and Occurrence of Virulence Factors in Staphylococci

This study investigated 960 Slovak and Czech spotted cattle from four different conventional (non-organic) dairy herds located in Eastern Slovakia and Czechia during early lactation (14–100 days after calving). Dairy cows were examined clinically; milk from fore-stripping of each udder quarter was subjected to sensory examination and assessed by the California mastitis test (CMT), and laboratory analyses of bacterial pathogens in milk, including virulence factors, were conducted. Positive CMT scores (1–3) for one or more quarters were detected in 271 (28.2%) of the examined animals. Out of 230 infected milk samples, representing 24.0% of all dairy cows, staphylococci (59.1% of positive findings) were the most commonly isolated organisms, followed by E. coli (11.3%), streptococci Str. uberis (9.1%) and Str. agalactiae (3.4%), and enterococci (6.1%). From 136 isolates of S. aureus (38 isolates) and non-aureus staphylococci (NAS; 98 isolates), virulence factors and their resistance to 14 antimicrobials were detected using the disk diffusion method, with PCR detection of the methicillin resistance gene, mecA. An increased incidence of clinical and chronic forms of mastitis has been reported in mastitic cows in which staphylococci, especially S. aureus and NAS (S. chromogenes, S. warneri, and S. xylosus), have been detected and compared to other isolated udder pathogens. From those species, S. aureus and isolates of NAS mentioned above showed multiple virulence factors that are more likely to hydrolyze DNA, hemolysis, produce gelatinase and biofilm, and have multi-drug resistance as compared to other less virulent staphylococci. Generally, the isolated staphylococci showed 77.2% resistance to one or more antimicrobials, in particular to aminoglycosides, β-lactams, macrolides, or cephalosporins. Isolates that showed the ability to form a biofilm were more resistant to more than one antimicrobial than isolates without biofilm production. Multi-drug resistance to three or more antimicrobial classes was recorded in 16 isolates (11.7%), and the presence of the mecA gene was also confirmed in two isolates of S. aureus and two species of NAS