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Identifying Sources of Fecal Contamination in Streams Associated with Chicken Farms
Citation:
Lee, Y., M. MOLINA, J. D. Willis, J. W. SANTO-DOMINGO, AND J. LU. Identifying Sources of Fecal Contamination in Streams Associated with Chicken Farms. Presented at 108th General Meeting of the American Society of Microbiology , Boston, MA, June 01 - 05, 2008.
Impact/Purpose:
The objective of this study was to evaluate transport of chicken fecal material from manure-fertilized pastures into adjacent streams.
Description:
Poultry is responsible for 44% of the total feces production in the U.S., followed by cattle and swine. The large U.S. production of feces poses a contamination risk for affected watersheds across the country. To aid in the identification of the sources of contamination, many DNA-based, source-specific identifiers have been developed including recently developed chicken-specific metagenome-based markers. The objective of this study was to evaluate transport of chicken fecal material from manure-fertilized pastures into adjacent streams. Further, we used additional source-specific identifiers to track other sources of fecal contamination (cattle, human and wildlife).