[USCC] antibiotics from livestock and compost

[Allison L H Jack]

>Hi Edo and everyone,
>
>In every lab I've worked in, we don't autoclave antibiotics exactly 
>because they are heat instable. When we're making selective media, we 
>autoclave the media, then add filter sterilized antibiotic solutions.
>
>With respect to which other factors are involved in reducing antibiotics 
>during composting, please see some of the abstracts in my previous email. 
>Kakimoto found that degradation of amoxicillin was dependent on chemical 
>factors (i.e. ammonia, hydroxyl ion and pH). Dolliver et al. found that 
>while the presence of some antibiotics were over 90% reduced via 
>composting, reduction of other types of antibiotics was less (~75%). So 
>the effectiveness of compost at reducing the presence of antibiotics 
>depends on the type of antibiotic as well.
>
>So like I said before: "Most antibiotics are unstable under high 
>temperatures, so hot composting can help reduce their levels in livestock 
>manure before application to soil." Composting can help reduce the 
>presence of antibiotics, but is in no way to be considered a total 
>solution to this problem. From a policy standpoint, if you had a choice 
>between spreading raw manure and spreading composted manure on soil, 
>choosing the composted manure could lead to lower rates of antibiotic 
>resistance in soil bacteria. But there are still so many questions to be 
>answered. For example, what about the fate of endocrine disrupting 
>compounds in composting?
>
>The spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment is a 
>fascinating field of study and many microbiologists are currently working 
>in this field. Most of the work I'm aware of is on raw manure applied to 
>soil, not many people are looking at the composting process. I agree with 
>Edo that contacting a nearby university and connecting with a lab that 
>does this kind of work would be a great way to answer some of these 
>questions. But in my experience you will have a hard time finding someone 
>to do research for you for free :-).
>
>In my dream world, I'd love to see the USCC pro-actively provide seed 
>money for research in this area where commercial composters collaborate 
>with local universities to answer these questions that are so important to 
>the industry. I know that at Cornell there is a state funded program that 
>encourages the collaboration between industry and university scientists. 
>http://www.biotech.cornell.edu/index.cfm/page/cat.htm My dissertation 
>research is funded through this program in collaboration with RT 
>Solutions, a vermicomposting business in NY State. The USDA SBIR program 
>is a similar industry-university collaboration. What is needed to get 
>projects like this off the ground is small amounts of seed money. For 
>example, I got two $1,000 scholarships and a $10,000 grant from the 
>Organic Farming Research Foundation when I first started my PhD project. 
>This was enough for me to generate preliminary data that we could use to 
>apply for larger grants. A small seed money program at the USCC could 
>steer many graduate students down a research path that would be of great 
>help to the industry. Just my 2 cents.
>
>-Allison
>
>**************************************************************************************
>Allison L H Jack
>Graduate Student
>Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology
>http://pppmb.cals.cornell.edu
>Cornell University
>335 Plant Science
>Ithaca, NY 14850
>607.273.5762
>************************************************************************************* 
>
>
>"...Advancing a productive and sustainable agriculture"
>from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences mission statement

**************************************************************************************
Allison L H Jack
Graduate Student
Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology
http://pppmb.cals.cornell.edu
Cornell University
335 Plant Science
Ithaca, NY 14850
607.273.5762
************************************************************************************* 


"...Advancing a productive and sustainable agriculture"
from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences mission statement